A Nevada woman, Tonja Van Roy, has been sentenced to 50 months in federal prison for a fraudulent scheme involving fine art insurance policies. Van Roy, who formerly operated an insurance agency in Northridge, California, was also ordered by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson to pay $1,880,237 in restitution.
Van Roy pleaded guilty on January 6 to one count of wire fraud. Court documents revealed that she owned Pegasus Insurance, a company specializing in insurance policies for art collections. Between January 2021 and December 2023, she submitted numerous fraudulent finance agreements to AFCO Credit Corp., based in Lake Forest, Illinois. These agreements were purportedly to finance insurance policies sold to art galleries.
The investigation found that Van Roy fabricated insurance policy numbers and forged electronic signatures of fictitious insureds. The borrowed funds were used for personal expenses such as credit card payments. To cover up the scheme when loans came due, Van Roy submitted additional fraudulent agreements and used new loan proceeds to give the appearance of repaying old loans.
Prosecutors highlighted her deep knowledge of the industry: “[Van Roy] embarked on a sophisticated, multiyear scheme to borrow fraudulently over $3.7 million dollars using her insider’s knowledge of the insurance industry.” They noted her extensive experience as an insurance agent which enabled her to manipulate victims and evade detection.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the California Department of Insurance. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Brown from the Major Frauds Section prosecuted the case.
