Big NY Fraud Cases Net Big Fines, Repays

A New York City demolition company, Alba Services, will pay $1.4 million to nearly 700 workers, many of whom were explicitly instructed by bosses not to file injury claims to the state Workers Compensation Board.
The settlement was announced Tuesday by State Attorney General Lettia James.
Bosses sometimes offered to pay medical bills under the table.
The attorney general’s investigation found Alba also retaliated against workers who did file injury claims and failed to address sexual harassment in the workplace.
In all, investigators determined that the company reported less than half of the injuries it was legally required to report. By keeping workplace injury claims artificially low, Alba “reduced its insurance costs and gained an unfair advantage over competitors,” the attorney general’s office said.
In signing the settlement agreement, Alba Services neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing.
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A New York business owner and his construction company pleaded guilty Tuesday to insurance fraud in a workers’ compensation scheme that resulted in more than $600,000 in underpaid policy premiums.
Mahendranauth Khargie, and his company GC Stud, pleaded guilty to third-degree insurance fraud.
The company also pleaded guilty to effect of failure to secure compensation under the New York Workers’ Compensation Law, officials said.
“This calculated scheme of underreporting millions of dollars of payroll to defraud the state’s insurance system was a deliberate effort to gain an unfair advantage over businesses doing things the right way,” Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a news release about the guilty plea.
According to officials, annual audits by New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) investigators found the defendants allegedly underreported payroll between April 2019 and March 2022, resulting in premium fraud.
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Alabama will hold a public hearing on Dec. 4 on NCCI’s recent call for a 4.5% average reduction in loss costs, effective March 1, 2026.
That follows a 6.1% decrease for 2025, approved late last year.
NCCI also is recommending a 3.6% decrease in the assigned risk rate level in Alabama for next year, the Alabama Department of Insurance said in a bulletin.
Florida held a similar hearing on Tuesday to get comments on NCCI’s proposed 6.9% decrease in rates for the voluntary market, effective Jan. 1.
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