An insurance broker and his boyfriend have been jailed for an insurance scam that secured them £1.7 million during a 10-year period.
Simon Higginson was an insurance broker at Willis Group Ltd until his dismissal in 2013 but is now facing a five-year jail sentence for his role in a significant fraud carried out during Higginson’s time with the company.
He and his boyfriend Lee Willis, both from Guildford, set up companies allowing them to claim commission from marine insurance deals while they faked documents to trick Higginson’s employers.
When the fraud was discovered Higginson was immediately sacked and the fraud was referred to the police, reports
ITV News, with the detective for the case, Chris Glover, telling the news outlet that the sentences send out a strong message.
“Exploiting your position within a company in order to commit fraud will never have beneficial results,” he said.
“Higginson took liberties within his role at Willis Group Ltd that he had no right to do. He involved his boyfriend who was also completely swept along by greed and was fully aware of the fraud that he was committing.
“They both had no problem falsely providing documents in the names of individuals or doctoring company e-mails to help serve their own financial ends and they were completely shameless in doing so.
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Lee Willis was jailed for four years.
Commenting on the case, a spokesman for Willis Tower Watson said:
“We take fraud extremely seriously and welcome this verdict. We will always pursue matters of financial wrongdoing as fully as possible. We terminated Mr Higginson’s employment at Willis following a disciplinary process in 2013, and we have since worked closely with the authorities to help secure this conviction.”
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