Maryland Lawyer Emulated South Florida Counterparts, Now Faces up to 20 Years in Prison

Borrowing from the playbook of parasitic personal injury lawyers who have made South Florida the auto accident insurance-fraud capital of America, an attorney from Bethesda, Maryland, got in over his head and has been popped in a sting operation.

According to Associated Press coverage in the Washington Post, 45-year-old Amir Ryan Lahuti “pleaded guilty Wednesday to an insurance-fraud conspiracy in which he teamed up with a Virginia chiropractor to submit bogus claims.”

Lahuti will be sentenced in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, August 5, and faces up to 20 years in prison.

The AP reports that “authorities ran an undercover sting to unearth an operation in which Lahuti employed ‘runners’ to recruit accident victims and refer them to chiropractor Jason Carle. [Carle] and Lahuti would pay the runners $500 to $1,200 for each recruit. The runners would coach individuals to fake or exaggerate injuries.”

Here’s hoping the judge makes examples of both Lahuti and Carle, who also pleaded guilty, with stiff sentences.  And here’s hoping the FBI similarly cracks down on the PIP (personal injury protection) racketeers bilking insurance companies and honest premium payers in Florida.