On August 17, 2021, Julie Reichel of Washington, Illinois was arrested in Livingston County and charged with theft and financial exploitation of the elderly and given a $3 million dollar bail. Reichel, a licensed insurance agent, was previously affiliated with Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America along with one of its other former insurance agents, Charles Purtscher. She is accused of stealing a large sum of money from Allianz insurance customers over a period of several years. In addition to the criminal charges, the Livingston County State’s Attorney also filed a civil forfeiture action to seize her assets. Both cases are currently pending in Livingston County, Illinois.
Financial fraud cases happen to more people than you know. On average, 30% of businesses with less than 100 employees commit financial fraud, either externally or internally. Larger businesses are more likely to have cases of financial fraud. Being a victim of any type of financial fraud can be detrimental to your finances, so it is important to recognize possible types of fraud. Financial fraud can look like a variety of things:
- Falsified accounting
- Falsified book entries
- Stolen capital
- Stolen assets
- Misrepresentation of services or products
- Falsified accounts
There are many ways to protect yourself against financial fraud as a consumer. Some of the more common ways are:
- Checking your bank account often. Be wary of unexplained charges
- Knowing the people that you do business with
- Paying attention to the sender of emails
- Never giving your personal information out to websites you are unfamiliar with
As a business owner, it can be complicated to detect internal financial fraud. Some of the best ways to protect your business are:
- Doing a background check of all your employees
- Having an external company audit your finances
- Separating the spending power from the auditor
- Routinely checking your employees work habits
- Being aware of your company’s finances
Although we can do our best to stop financial fraud, it is not always avoidable. Sometimes we fall victim to those with ill intentions who wish to fraud our company or ourselves. When this happens, it is important to know that you have options to help recover your financial losses. One such option is to hire an attorney. An experienced attorney can help you navigate the process of filing a law suit against whoever frauded you or your company and can take the stress away from trying to file the necessary paperwork in a timely manner so you can focus on rebuilding yourself.
Spiros Law, P.C. has helped a number of victims of financial fraud recover their losses in the past. If you or someone you know believes you are a victim of financial fraud you can call the attorneys at Spiros Law, P.C. for a free consultation to learn more about your legal rights. At Spiros Law, P.C., a free consultation means that we will front the costs associated with your lawsuit so you can focus on recovering mentally. Spiros Law, P.C. fights hard on their client’s behalf to help them recover their losses.
