North Chesterfield Agent Sentenced for Scamming Clients, Employer

In a devastating case of corporate betrayal, North Chesterfield insurance agent Joseph O’Carroll III was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison for mail fraud after swindling his employer and clients in multiple schemes.

According to court documents, from August 2017 through March 2020, O’Carroll, 52, scammed his employer for commissions and incentives by writing insurance policies for individuals without their consent or knowledge.

O’Carroll used the personal identifying information (PII) of clients, including their names, dates of birth, social security numbers, and bank account numbers, to apply for fraudulent life insurance policies in their names and forged their signatures on the applications.

O’Carroll created and maintained email addresses purportedly belonging to his clients, which he then listed on the insurance applications to facilitate communications with the insurance companies. For one client, O’Carroll listed his own BB&T checking account from which the issuing insurance company was to automatically withdraw the premiums on applications for the policies.

On at least one policy, O’Carroll listed himself as the beneficiary. During an Aug. 4, 2020, interview with the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance, O’Carroll admitted that the client was “out of it” at the time due to the death of the client’s wife, and ultimately admitted that he wrote that policy and others to assist himself in winning a 2019 incentive trip to the Riviera Maya in Mexico from his employer.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kashan Pathan and Mike C. Moore and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin G. Cooke prosecuted the case. The U.S. Attorney thanks the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance for their assistance in the investigation.

The Central Virginia Financial Crimes Task Force, created in 2022, is a partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and representatives of local financial institutions. Co-chaired by the Richmond Field Office of the United States Secret Service and the Washington Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Task Force utilizes the knowledge and experience of its many partners to develop intelligence and pursue investigations into crimes that target or involve financial institutions located throughout the Central Virginia region.

Joseph O’Carroll III, a 52-year-old North Chesterfield insurance and annuities agent, has been sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison for mail fraud. O’Carroll scammed his employer and clients out of thousands of dollars by writing insurance policies for individuals without their consent or knowledge.