8 Tri-City Residents Plead Guilty in Huge Federal Insurance Fraud

Federal officials announced on Friday, April 7th, 11 defendants have pleaded guilty to various roles in a large car accident insurance fraud scheme.

 8 of 11 defendants are from Tri-Cities 

Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced the pleas, which were made in Federal Court in Spokane.

According to Federal court documents, the 11 defendants, between July 2017 and April 2020, conspired to stage a series of fake auto accidents which resulted in fraudulent payments by insurance companies for at least $657,812. These were from property, injury, automobile, and lost wage claims.  One of the Tri-City defendants,  Maria Elena Sanchez, used her position as a case manager at a personal injury law firm in WA, to help carry out the fraud.

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The Tri-City defendants are listed below, along with the charges they are facing:

Ali Abed Yaser, age 52 of Kennewick, Washington - conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings, making a false statement to the FBI, and two counts of mail fraud,

Hussein A. Yasir, age 41 of Kennewick, Washington - conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and five counts of mail fraud,

Maria Elena Sanchez, age 42 of Kennewick, Washington - conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, seven counts of wire fraud, and three counts of mail fraud

Jesus George Sanchez, age 57 of Pasco, Washington - conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and one count of wire fraud

Mohammed F. Al-Himrani, age 34 of Kennewick, Washington - conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud,

Khalil Abdul-Razaq, age 40 of Kennewick, Washington - conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud

Ameer R. Mohammed, age 46 of Kennewick, Washington - conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud

Mohammed Naji Al-Jibory, age 55 of Kennewick, Washington – conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings.

Waldref says these defendants are facing a significant list of penalties, which could include:

"20 years for each count of mail fraud and wire fraud, each count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and each count of conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings; 10 years for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud; 5 years for making a false statement to the FBI; and 3 years for misprision of a felony."

A judge will determine, case by case, what the appropriate punishments are during sentencing at a later date.