Son of Buckingham woman charged in $20M insurance fraud testifies claims were legitimate

Posted Feb. 2, 2019

Carl Risoldi (L) and Claire Risoldi

The son of a Buckingham socialite accused in a $20 million insurance fraud scheme acknowledged that he and his mother used insurance money from a 2013 fire claim to buy six-figure sports cars and three homes, but there was nothing illegal about the purchases.

“I was allowed to do whatever I wanted (with the money),” Carl Risoldi, 46, of Buckingham, told jurors on Friday. “There is no law against using your own legitimate money.”

But the prosecutor for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office countered that if that was the case, why did the family conceal the purchase of the homes from its insurer, AIG?

“Why put the houses in a straw purchaser’s name?” Senior Deputy Attorney General Linda Montag asked.

Carl Risoldi, who is scheduled for a March trial on fraud charges stemming from the 2013 fire claims, was the last defense witness to testify in the trial of his mother, Claire Risoldi, 71, of Buckingham, who is facing fraud and related charges in connection with fires at her family’s Stoney Hill Road estate, known as Clairemont. Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for Monday before the jury of 10 men and two women start deliberations.

Montag spent Friday morning grilling Carl Risoldi mostly on his recollections of the homeowner and jewelry insurance policies, related claims, his mother’s jewelry collection and its appraisals.

At times during the extended cross examination Carl Risoldi appeared frustrated with the line of questioning.

When the prosecutor asked if he noticed the word jewelry was misspelled on one of the appraisals submitted to AIG, he answered, “It’s my understanding you can spell jewelry several different ways. Google search it.”

Carl Risoldi and his sister Carla own Clairemont. Carl, his wife Sheila, and Claire Risoldi were named as beneficiaries on the homeowner’s policy and a separate jewelry policy.

On the witness stand, Carl Risoldi acknowledged that he signed documents for the insurance policies as well as the proofs of loss to support claims for the 2013 fire, paperwork that Montag pointed out included warnings about filing fraudulent claims.

Prosecutors allege Claire Risoldi used false receipts, appraisals and other documents and lied under oath to bilk insurance company AIG out of $20 million in fraudulent and inflated insurance claims in 2009, 2010 and 2013 to fund the family’s lavish lifestyle. The family has consistently denied the allegations and sued AIG over its denial of a $10 million insurance claim for jewelry that went missing after the last fire.

At the time of the last fire, the family had a homeowner’s policy providing $13 million in coverage for Clairemont and its contents and a supplemental policy for $10 million for Claire Risoldi’s jewelry collection, which had been stored in a bank until shortly before the last fire.

Prosecutors showed the family increased the insurance coverage on the jewelry four times between July and September 2013, raising it from $1 million to $10.9 million. But Carl Risoldi testified it was not unusual for the family to make adjustments in coverage.

He testified that AIG failed to take him up on an offer to have someone examine the jewelry before agreeing to insure it. He added that insurance representatives told him that appraisals were not required for jewelry worth less than $250,000.

The day he retrieved the jewelry from the bank at his mother’s request, Carl Risoldi testified that he did not look at or inspect it. Claire Risoldi directed her son to pick up the jewelry so she could pick out what pieces she wanted to wear for a surprise wedding planned to take place that night during a political fundraiser.

Carl Risoldi could not recall when the two canvas bags containing the jewelry were placed in the foyer near the front door to be returned to the bank. He testified he planned to leave work early to take the jewelry back to the bank on the Tuesday after the wedding, but then the fire happened.

Montag told the jury that the Risoldi family used only $1 million of the $10 million in insurance proceeds toward repairing Clairemont after the last fire, spending the rest to purchase 10 to 12 Ferraris and homes on Danielle Drive in Buckingham.

But Carl Risoldi testified the AIG insurance adjuster told him the family could use the insurance proceeds however they wanted.

Montag showed the jury a copy of an email dated April 16, 2014, where Carl Risoldi asked the AIG adjuster to mail a claims check to Claire’s rental home, and an April 25, 2014, note from Claire Risoldi stating that she was enclosing the residential lease agreement for a Danielle Drive property naming Karl Morris as her landlord and Carl and her as the tenants of the property.

The prosecutor reminded the jury that Claire Risoldi had bought the Danielle Drive home a month earlier and listed its owner as Karl Morris, a family friend. Morris testified earlier in the trial that he did not pay for either of the Danielle Drive homes that he owns and that he has never been paid rent for the home Claire Risoldi has lived in the last four years.

Montag also pointed out to nothing in the insurance policy states that a home purchase is considered a legitimate claim as an alternative living expense.

“It doesn’t say I can’t do that either,” Carl Risoldi replied.