Glass Man Gets Prison for Massive Insurance Scam

A Strawberry man was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on federal charges he directed employees at his West Oakland-based windshield company to falsify insurance claims to the tune of more than $400,000, among other crimes, the U.S. Attorney General's Office said Wednesday.

Mehrdad Hakimian, 48, who owns Glass Emporium of Marin, must begin serving his 42-month prison term on September 3. Following a two-year FBI investigation and a four-week trial, he was convicted of conspiring to defraud insurance companies and overcharging them. He was also convicted of destroying and concealing documents in an attempt to impede an ongoing FBI investigation by selling 20,000 pounds of documents to a recycling center.

Hakimian's company operates 60 stores across the country under the names Glass Pro and Glass Masters. In February, just before the trial, Hakimian pleaded guilty to two counts of harboring illegal aliens, nine counts of visa fraud and conspiracy to commit visa fraud. He also pleaded guilty to concealing two undocumented foreign employees from U.S. immigration officials.

During the trial, jurors heard evidence that, from 1999 through 2006, Hakimian directed employees at his West Oakland headquarters as well as in offices nationwide to falsify invoices submitted to insurance companies for replacement windshields and other automobile glass. The jury found that Glass Emporium employees charged insurance companies for windshield parts that they never installed.

The FBI investigation began in 2005, after a Glass Emporium employee in Tennessee reported that she suspected fraud in the Oakland corporate office, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. State Farm Insurance then conducted an investigation and found that they had been defrauded in more than 300 of 400 claims.

In sentencing Hakimian, U.S. District Court Judge D. Lowell Jensen tacked on a $150,000 fine. Hakimian was not ordered to pay restitution, because he previously reached a settlement with State Farm, and has made payments to approximately 77 insurance companies impacted by the fraud, the U.S. District Attorney's office said.