Florida regulators announced a crackdown on people selling vehicle insurance products without a license.
Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky this week ordered American Dream Auto Protect Inc., an auto warranty company, to cease operations because it did not have a license or approval from the state Office of Insurance Regulation.
The company, which incorporated last year, must run off its hundreds of existing warranties by honoring the warranties or allowing purchasers to cancel and to obtain a refund. American Dream, based in New Jersey, must also send the consent order to consumers and post it on the firm’s website, Yaworsky said in a bulletin.
The initial cease-and-desist warning was issued by OIR in June last year, before the warranty company filed incorporation papers in Florida, records show. The office had received complaints about the company’s operations as early as July 2024.The final consent order was issued Feb. 4 of this year. The OIR bulletin did not explain why the initial complaint and consent order were not made public before now.
The OIR complaint notes that American Dream Auto Protect had 894 contracts in Florida as of last summer, and $2.2 million in premiums. Florida Secretary of State corporation records show the firm’s CEO is Moshe Qubrusi, of Edison, New Jersey.
Qubrusi previously operated Car Protect Administration Inc., in Florida, starting in 2023, corporation records show. That company is not licensed or authorized by OIR, but is not listed as engaging in unlicensed activity.
Yaworsky also said the OIR has launched a new website showing firms that the office said have operated without licenses. So far, the site lists six warranty companies.
Also on Tuesday, Florida’s chief financial officer announced that two people had been charged with printing and selling at least two dozen fake certificates of insurance for tow-truck operators in south Florida.
Aliba Lamas Alvarez, 38, of Hialeah, was reportedly acting as an insurance agent without a license. He and several co-defendants allegedly used the certificates to obtain towing permit decals in Miami-Dade County, the arrest record shows.
Also, Javier Gonzalez Jr., age and address unreported, is a licensed insurance agent in Florida. He was charged Feb. 5 with filing false insurance claims and with fraud, the state Department of Financial Services reported. Miami-Dade arrest records were not immediately available for Gonzalez.
DFS records show several licensed insurance agents in south Florida with that name.
Topics
Auto
Florida
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