For the second time in a year, Ontario courts are examining whether someone accused of a crime is entitled to life insurance payments arising from the policy of the deceased.
A Canadian lawyer charged with first-degree murder in the death of his ex-husband is seeking the deceased’s $2-million life insurance proceeds, the Toronto Star reports.
Even if the lawyer is convicted, he is arguing in court that the dead man’s family shouldn’t get the insurance money because the family is not named in the policy, according to the Star, citing court documents.
Demitry Papasotiriou was arrested in November and charged in the slaying of Allan Lanteigne, 49, a University of Toronto accounting clerk found beaten at his Ossington Ave. home on March 3, 2011. The charge has not been proven in court.
Toronto police say Papasotiriou was in Switzerland studying for his doctorate in law at the time of the killing. A business associate of his, Mladen “Michael’’ Ivezic, 52, of Mississauga was also charged with murder.
Papasotiriou and Lanteigne married in 2004, months after they met, but they subsequently became estranged. Papasotiriou is named as sole beneficiary in the life insurance policy of Lanteigne, who did not have a will.
Insurers are seeking a release from liability, arguing that if Papasotiriou is found guilty, they will simply release the insurance funds to the court. The court will resolve the criminal matter before dealing with the insurers’ civil matter, the Star reports.
Last April, the Ontario Court of Appeal found that a man found “not criminally responsible” for the second-degree murder of his wife – on the basis that he suffered from a schizoaffective disorder – was entitled to keep an insurer’s $51,000 death benefit.
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A single mother of two young children in Manitoba, Jasmyne Garand-Jones, has pleaded guilty to her role in the largest vehicle-insurance fraud case in Manitoba's history, which bilked provincial taxpayers of more than $800,000.
The 24-year-old was was given a year-long suspended sentence and ordered to pay nearly $8,000 in restitution, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.
“Police began investigating in 2005 after learning dozens of used cars with hefty mileage were being purchased in Ontario for cheap, brought to Manitoba and altered to reflect greatly reduced odometer readings, which increased their value,” the paper reports. “The accused would then make phoney ‘sales’ to each other, insure the vehicle at the increased price and then stage a series of accidents and thefts in order to cash in.”
