When a person is accused of insurance fraud, there are many things they may have significant fears about. For one, they might be afraid of the possibility of ending up imprisoned for a significant period of time.
How big of a jail/prison sentence can a person face for an insurance fraud conviction here in Minnesota? Well, it depends on the amount of the fraud. Minnesota law pegs the maximum possible sentence for an instance of insurance fraud to the amount of the fraud. The available max jail/prison sentences vary rather significantly. For the lowest fraud amount category, fraud $500 and under, the max is a jail sentence of 90 days. Meanwhile, for the highest fraud amount category, fraud over $35,000, the max is a prison sentence of 20 years.
What is the “amount” of a fraud for the purposes of this calculation? It is whichever is larger between the economic loss the fraud inflicted and the benefit wrongfully acquired (or that was attempted to be acquired) in the fraud.
What the potential penalties are is one of the many areas in which insurance fraud cases vary greatly from one another. Some other areas include: what types of evidence are present in the case, the quality of the evidence prosecutors are bringing, how authorities acted in the investigation and the overall strength of the prosecution’s case. So, defense guidance tailored to their specific circumstances can be a crucial thing for a person here in Minnesota to have when allegations of insurance fraud arise.
Source: FindLaw, “Minnesota Insurance Fraud Laws,” Accessed March 23, 2017
