Carl Risoldi pleads guilty, gives up Clairemont estate

Posted Feb. 15, 2019

The 10-acre, million-dollar Buckingham estate called “Clairemont” that once hosted Republican fundraisers and political candidates will soon be state property under a plea agreement reached with the son of its owner — a onetime socialite now convicted felon.

Clairemont

Carl Risoldi, 46, of Buckingham, admitted in Bucks County Court on Friday that he conspired with his mother, Claire Risoldi, to file fraudulent insurance claims with insurer AIG following an Oct. 22, 2013, fire at the Stoney Hill Road home that the family owned. He also admitted to theft by deception for claims filed on a homeowner’s policy and attempted theft by deception for filing false claims for $10 million in jewelry the family asserted went missing after the 2013 fire.

As part of the plea agreement, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office downgraded the charges against Carl Risoldi from felonies to second-degree misdemeanors and dismissed the remaining felony charges against him. Prosecutor Linda Montag also agreed not to seek perjury charges against Risoldi, who testified as a defense witness earlier this month at the trial of his mother, who was charged with similar fraud-related offenses involving past insurance claims.

Chester County Senior Judge Thomas Gavin sentenced Carl Risoldi to four years of non-reporting probation, in accordance with the plea agreement.

Defense attorney Michael Diamondstein called the plea agreement a “fair resolution.” He added that after four years of legal wrangling his client wants to move forward.

“He wanted this to end,” he said.

The guilty plea came roughly three weeks before Carl Risoldi was scheduled for trial, and two weeks after a jury found Claire Risoldi, 71, of Buckingham, guilty of six felonies for filing $13 million in false insurance claims following the 2013 fire. Claire Risoldi is awaiting sentencing later this year; she faces a potential maximum of 60 years in prison and millions in restitution and fines.

The plea agreement included a restitution order, which Carl Risoldi satisfied by transferring ownership of Clairemont to the state Attorney General’s Office. Risoldi and his sister, Carla Risoldi, were joint owners of Clairemont since 2004. Carla Risoldi waived her interest in the property last year, prosecutors said.

The family was given 60 days to remove items from the property. The AG’s office plans to liquidate the property and transfer the proceeds to AIG. Prosecutors did not provide an estimate on the value of Clairemont, but the Bucks County Board of Assessment lists its fair market value at $1.3 million.

The court also agreed to return to Carl Risoldi other assets frozen since 2015 under a court order designed to protect them for potential restitution, including two properties in the 4800 block of Danielle Drive, 14 cars including six-figure sports cars, Rolex watches, and one-third of the money in bank accounts held by him, Claire and Carla Risoldi.

The $20 million insurance fraud case made national headlines in January 2015 when a grand jury handed down a 47–page indictment charging the family with funding an extravagant lifestyle using fraudulently obtained insurance proceeds and falsely accusing volunteer firefighters of stealing $10 million in alleged missing jewelry after the third fire at the home.

AIG paid the Risoldi family roughly $20 million following three fires at Clairemont, including roughly $10 million following the 2013 fire.

Through their attorneys, the Risoldi family denied the charges against them as politically motivated. The Risoldis were well-known in the county for hosting lavish fundraisers, social events and political candidates, and their close political ties led to the entire Bucks County judicial bench recusing themselves from the case.

Other family members also were charged in the case were approved to enter special trial diversion programs for non-violent, first-time offenders that would give them an opportunity to expunge their criminal record. Two family associates had fraud-related charges against them dismissed. Claire Risoldi’s second husband, Thomas French, completed suicide shortly after the indictments were handed down.

While the criminal case is nearly done, unresolved legal issues for the family continue.

Still unclear is the fate of a 2015 civil suit the family brought in Bucks County Court against AIG for denying insurance claims associated with the 2013 fire and the fight over the estate of Thomas French between Claire Risoldi and French’s only child, Thomas French Jr., who is contesting a photocopy of his father’s will submitted for probate

Buckingham socialite Claire Risoldi convicted of filing $13M in false insurance claims

Posted Feb. 5, 2019

A Buckingham socialite known for her lavish lifestyle could spend the rest of her life in state prison after she was convicted Tuesday of filing nearly $13 million in false insurance claims following a 2013 fire at her family’s 10-acre estate.

Claire Risoldi

After a 4-1/2 hour deliberation, the jury of 10 men and two women convicted Claire Risoldi, 71, on six of nine charges, finding she cheated insurer AIG out of $2.75 million it paid for false claims related to drapes and alternative living expenses, and she attempted to bilk the insurer out of another $10 million for a false claim on a separate jewelry policy.

“We disagree with the verdict,” her daughter, Carla Risoldi, said afterward. She and her brother Carl were present in the courtroom while the verdict was read.

The verdict came on the fourth anniversary of the death of Risoldi’s second husband, former Bucks County sheriff, Tom French, who completed suicide about a week after the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office filed charges against him and others in the insurance fraud scheme.

In the courtroom, Risoldi, who wore jeans and a black sweater with her trademark mirrored aviator sunglasses hanging from the neckline, had no apparent reaction as the guilty verdicts were announced.

Afterward, her attorney Jack McMahon expressed disappointment.

“We thought we put on a strong case,” he said.

During his weeklong defense presentation, McMahon called a series of witnesses including Carl Risoldi, 46, who is scheduled to go to trial next month on similar fraud charges stemming from the Oct. 22, 2013, fire claims. In his closing arguments Monday, McMahon tried to poke holes in the prosecution’s case suggesting the Attorney General’s Office and AIG had conspired against his client to thwart the $10 million jewelry claim payout.

On Tuesday, McMahon said it was too early to make any decisions about an appeal.

Also unclear Tuesday was the fate of a civil suit the family brought against AIG for denying as fraud the claim for $10 million in jewelry the family contends went missing after the 2013 fire at Clairemont, as the estate was known.

Following the verdict, Chester County Senior Judge Thomas Gavin, who oversaw the case, rejected a prosecution request to revoke bail after Risoldi said she does not have a valid passport.

Sentencing is expected to occur in 60 to 90 days. Risoldi could face a maximum of 60 years in state prison on top of a pending 30-day jail sentence for contempt in 2016 related to the fraud case. The AG’s office also will seek to recoup $2.75 million in restitution from family assets that were frozen in 2015, including Clairemont and three other homes the family bought with insurance proceeds and a fleet of exotic cars and cash.

Jurors found Risoldi guilty of dealings in unlawful proceeds, a felony that carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence, insurance fraud, theft by deception, criminal attempted theft by deception and conspiracy. All the guilty verdicts were related to 2013 claims, including the use of insurance proceeds earmarked for home rental while Clairemont was repaired, to buy three homes in Buckingham using a straw purchaser and holding company.

The jury found Risoldi not guilty on three counts of receiving stolen property related to jewelry claims filed in 1984, 1993 and 2002. Prosecutors had argued that Risoldi received insurance proceeds for pieces of jewelry she had previously reported stolen and received money for.

The verdict marked the second time that Risoldi has been convicted of fraud. She pleaded guilty in 1990 to two counts of federal mail fraud in U.S. District Court for using false medical documents to defraud her first husband’s union health insurance provider out of $13,028. She was sentenced to two years of probation.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Linda Montag, who acted as lead prosecutor in the case, praised the jury for their effort.

“They took their time with a decision,” she said.

About an hour into deliberations Tuesday, the jury asked to see evidence including copies of the family’s homeowners and jewelry policies as well as proof of loss receipts and invoices from Summerdale Mills, the company involved in the $2 million drape claims, and two pieces of a report prepared by a forensic auditor including a summary of the family’s income.

The verdict capped what had been a four-year odyssey that made national headlines in January 2015 when a grand jury handed down a 47–page indictment charging the family with funding an extravagant lifestyle using fraudulently obtained insurance proceeds and falsely accusing volunteer firefighters of stealing $10 million in jewelry after the third fire at the home.

Through their attorneys, the Risoldi family steadfastly denied the charges against them as politically motivated. The Risoldis were well known in the county for hosting lavish fundraisers, social events and political candidates, and their close political ties led to the entire Bucks County judicial bench recusing themselves from the case.

The case ping-ponged between Bucks County Court, the state Superior Court and most recently the U.S. District Court as the prosecution and defense filed motions seeking dismissals, contempt charges, bail revocations, release of seized family assets and additional criminal charges in the case, pushing back trial dates.

Other family members also were charged in the case were approved to enter special trial diversion programs for non-violent, first-time offenders that would give them an opportunity to expunge their criminal record. Two family associates had fraud-related charges against them dismissed.

The AG’s office had painted Claire Risoldi as the matriarch and mastermind of the insurance fraud scheme. In addition, she had been facing multiple witness intimidation charges that later were dropped. The grand jury report painted Risoldi as cunning and ruthless with a short fuse.

McMahon also characterized his client as a bawdy lady with expensive taste in jewelry who loves entertaining, sometimes uses colorful language and who will scream at someone one minute, then send them flowers to apologize an hour later.

Throughout her trial, Risoldi, dressed in neutral sweaters and slacks with winter boots, could be found handing out mints and gum to her family and supporters. Besides her sunglasses, her main accessory wasn’t jewelry, but a series of sparkle-infused knit hats that she got special permission to wear in court for an undisclosed medical condition.

Following closing arguments Monday night, Risoldi said that she had a publisher and was working on a book about her life.

When reporters approached her for a comment after the verdict Tuesday, McMahon yelled at his client to come over to him before she could comment.

Later, McMahon said his client was disappointed but accepted the verdict.

“Claire is doing fine,” he added.

Jury expected to get $20M Risoldi insurance fraud case Tuesday

Posted Feb. 4, 2019

A Bucks County jury is expected to begin deliberations Tuesday in the $20 million insurance fraud case against a Buckingham socialite accused of using phony receipts and appraisals to justify inflated claims to fund her family’s lavish lifestyle.

Claire Risoldi

Closing arguments in the four-week trial ended Monday before a packed courtroom in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office case against Claire Risoldi, 71, who is accused of nine offenses including conspiracy, insurance fraud, theft by deception and dealings in unlawful proceeds. The charges center on a series of insurance claims Risoldi filed, mostly centered around a 2013 fire at her family’s 10-acre estate, Clairemont.

Chester County Senior Judge Thomas Gavin will issue his instruction to the 10-man, two-woman jury before they begin deliberations.

In his near four-hour closing, Risoldi defense attorney Jack McMahon told the jury to look beyond the “smoke and mirrors” of the prosecution, which he maintained lacked evidence and facts.

McMahon resurrected the theme of his opening argument, calling insurer AIG, the company that insured the Risoldis’ home and jewelry, a “huge, infamous corporation” that targeted Claire Risoldi to avoid paying the $10 million claim involving jewelry that went missing after a 2013 fire.

McMahon again tried to portray the Attorney General’s Office as partners with AIG “in their dirty work,” at one point accusing AIG and the AG’s office of committing fraud in their prosecution against Risoldi.

He pointed to defense witness Bryan Neumeister, a forensic video and audio expert, who testified last week that when he enhanced a photo taken by a Buckingham police officer shortly after firefighters responded to the Oct. 22, 2013, fire at Clairemont, it revealed a white square object that appeared on a darker square inside the darkened front door of the home.

While Neumeister did not testify to what the object might be, McMahon on Monday insisted the objects were the canvas bags containing $10 million in jewelry the family maintains went missing the day of the fire. McMahon contends neither AIG nor the Attorney General’s Office made any real attempt to investigate the missing jewelry claims because it didn’t fit their narrative.

“Finding even one piece would be detrimental to them,” he said. “This is why our founding fathers put a jury system in place because of the unchecked power of government.”

McMahon maintained that the prosecution had failed to prove that either the jewelry never existed or that its value was inflated. He noted that AIG declined offers to examine the jewelry and it accepted as accurate appraisals the family submitted, which the prosecution contends are fraudulent.

He also contended that contrary to the story the prosecution wanted to tell, the Risoldi family could legitimately spend the $1.5 million in insurance proceeds AIG initially paid out of the homeowner’s claim on three houses and 10 Ferraris.

The $936,000 the Risoldis received under the Alternative Living Expenses portion of the homeowner policy, which covered expenses such as rent, is what AIG determined the family was entitled to, McMahon said. The policy, he added, also did not state they couldn’t buy a home with the proceeds.

But in her summation, senior Deputy Attorney General Linda Montag refuted McMahon’s arguments, telling the jury the AG’s mounds of documentation and witness testimony will convict Risoldi of the charges against her.

“Claire Risoldi was all about the money. When she saw an insurance company, she saw a paycheck,” Montag said.

She urged the jury to review copies of the homeowner’s and jewelry insurance policies, evaluations under oath statements, copies of receipts, appraisals, and the proof of loss statements.

Montag cited 70 receipts Risoldi submitted with her drapery claim where the name of the company, Summerdale, was misspelled. She also showed a fax from Claire Risoldi to an AIG adjuster involving the claim with the same misspelling of Summerdale.

She added that much of the evidence the defense presented helps the prosecution’s case, such as Risoldi’s son, Carl Risoldi, whose testimony as a defense witness supported that Risoldi paid $4,000 a month rent, not $13,000 as they claimed in insurance paperwork, for five months. Carl Risoldi is scheduled for trial on fraud charges in March.

With the jewelry claims, Montag again pointed out that 21 of the more than 50 appraisals submitted for the jewelry policy had the word “jewelry” misspelled, and the appraisal documents seized by the FBI from the named appraiser appear different. She also pointed out the FBI recovered only one appraisal from the business records with Claire’s name on it.

The enhanced photo from Neumeister is not relevant to the case, Montag said, because the image doesn’t show jewelry. More important, she asked jurors, does it make sense that someone would have $10 million in jewelry in the foyer overnight and not immediately returned to the bank where it was stored.

“Ask yourselves, does that have the ring of truth to it,” Montag said. “Use your common sense.”

Montag also showed the jury a series of what she called “silent witnesses,” including a photograph of a book found on Claire Risoldi’s desk at her Danielle Drive home while executing a search warrant. It was called, “Insult to Injury: Insurance fraud and the Big Business of Bad Faith.”

“It speaks for itself,” she said.

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.

Defense witnesses take stand in Claire Risoldi insurance fraud trial

Posted January 29, 2019

The jurors in the $20 million insurance fraud trial of a Buckingham socialite were asked Tuesday to take another look at a cellphone photo they had been shown previously of the family’s million-dollar mansion the day a fire heavily damaged it more than five years ago.

Claire Risoldi (center)

This time, defense attorneys wanted them to look at something they hadn’t noticed in the photo before.

On the witness stand, an Arizona forensic expert demonstrated how he was able to extract a previously unseen image in the photo, which was snapped by a Buckingham police officer at the Stoney Hill Road home known as Clairemont, on the afternoon of Oct. 22, 2013.

The expert was the first in a series of defense witnesses who testified Tuesday as the trial of Claire Risoldi, 71, entered its second week. The state attorney general has charged Risoldi with fraud, forgery and related offenses in connection with alleged false insurance claims she made after the 2013 fire, as well as two earlier fires. The prosecution rested its case Monday.

Bryan Neumeister, CEO of USA Forensics, showed how he revealed what appears to be a white square on top of a dark square after he enhanced a portion of the photo behind the open front door at Clairemont. The open front door is visible in the original photo, but it’s too dark to see inside the home.

Risoldi and her family have maintained that two bags of jewelry, possibly the white and dark square in the photo, appraised at $10 million had been left on a chair near the front door and went missing after the 2013 fire. A state grand jury found the family falsely accused firefighters of stealing the jewelry; the family has sued insurer AIG, which has refused to pay the jewelry claim.

Neumeister, a specialist in forensic audio and video, testified the defense hired him to examine two of the 2013 cellphone photos.

“I was asked to see what’s inside the door,” he said.

Neumeister made national headlines as a defense witness in the 2013 murder trial of Jodi Arias, the Arizona woman who was convicted of murdering her lover Travis Alexander by stabbing him 30 times and shooting him. He testified when the final photo taken of Alexander was blown up and enhanced, it showed in the pupil of his eye the image of a human outline holding a camera, not a weapon, according to media reports.

While he uncovered a square white object in the enhanced Risoldi case photo, Neumeister said his testimony only involved how the photo was enhanced, not what is in the photo.

“I don’t speculate,” Neumeister added. “Data is data to us.”

The other defense witnesses Tuesday included a worker for the restoration company hired to salvage items that could be cleaned or restored following the 2013 fire.

Orlando Alcantara testified during the two months he worked at Clairemont, another worker found a diamond engagement ring in a sitting room near the kitchen. Later, Alcantara said he found empty Rolex boxes and a box containing a Ferrari watch in the attic.

Claire Risoldi regularly told the people working in the house that she was missing some items including jewelry, Alcantara said. He recalled she offered a $20,000 reward for the return of a sapphire necklace her late husband gave her.

On cross examination, though, Alcantara could not recall how soon after the fire Claire Risoldi asked workers to keep an eye out for jewelry.

“She told you first to look for the jewelry, before you found it,” Senior Deputy Attorney General Linda Montag said.

“She told everybody,” Alcantara said.

Risoldi mural artist says he helped create phony receipts for insurance claim

Posted January 22, 2019

 A New Hampshire artist testified Tuesday he conspired with a Buckingham socialite and her son to create phony documents to support a $950,000 insurance claim involving a series of murals he painted at their estate.

Russell Buckingham

Russell Buckingham testified he regretted it almost as soon as he wrote the six receipts in 2014 claiming the Risoldis paid him $800,000 cash for a series of murals he painted three years earlier.

“If I could relive this moment again I would do so,” Buckingham said.

But the amount of Buckingham’s commission was the subject of intense questioning during the fifth day of testimony in the $20 million insurance fraud trial of Claire Risoldi at the Bucks County Justice Center. Risoldi is accused of a litany of offenses related to alleged falsely inflated insurance claims filed following fires at her home in 2009, 2010 and 2013. Her son Carl Risoldi, 46, of Buckingham, is scheduled for trial in March on fraud charges stemming from the 2013 fire.

Defense attorney Jack McMahon claimed Buckingham was paid cash, and he was paid more than the $50,000 commission he claimed for the elaborate murals on a domed atrium ceiling featuring portraits of Risoldi family members and dining room walls at Clairemont, as their estate was known.

McMahon contended that Buckingham used the cash to go to Turkey in 2012 and start a theme restaurant that failed. He accused the Risoldis after learning the Pennsylvania attorney general was investigating the family for insurance fraud and worried authorities would learn he didn’t pay correct taxes on the cash he was paid, McMahon said.

“You were worried,” he said to Buckingham. “You pocketed a bunch of cash and didn’t pay anyone. You got scared and you got out in front of it.”

But on the witness stand, Buckingham, who has immunity in the case, said that roughly two months before a state grand jury indicted Risoldi for alleged insurance fraud, Claire and Carl Risoldi asked him to fabricate receipts for the work and inflate the amount he was paid.

The two Risoldis provided him different pens and pencils and pieces of paper to write out the receipts in the kitchen of Clairemont, Buckingham testified. He added that Claire Risoldi told him that she had claimed to insurer AIG that she paid him $800,000 for the murals.

“I wanted to help her. I had considered Claire (Risoldi) a friend, the whole family friends.” Buckingham said. “Frankly, I was flattered anyone thought my work was worth that much.”

Buckingham repeatedly denied that he was paid any cash for the murals. Prosecutors showed the jury of 11 men and one woman a series of checks from the Risoldis in 2011 each made out to Buckingham for $5,000 and one for $10,000, which represented his price of $35,000 for the ceiling mural and $15,000 for nine wall murals.

After he finished the Risoldi murals, Buckingham said he moved to Turkey for two years after he was invited to paint murals in Istanbul. While overseas he lived with his patron’s family. He was not paid for the murals, but he testified it was not unusual for him to donate his work. While in Turkey he also entered into what was ultimately a failed business venture, but another person put up the money, he testified.

Prosecutor Linda Montag asked if he was paid $800,000 for the murals in 2011.

“No,” Buckingham replied. “That was a life-changing amount of money. My life would have been completely different.”

Also testifying Tuesday was Lower Makefield resident Karl Morris, a longtime family friend of Carl Risoldi who acknowledged that he is the owner of record for two homes in the 4000 block of Danielle Drive in Buckingham, even though Claire Risoldi bought them.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office contends Morris acted as a straw buyer for the properties to conceal the misuse of insurance money earmarked for living expenses such as rent.

Morris, who has immunity from prosecution, testified he has never received any rent from Claire Risoldi, who has lived in one of the Danielle Drive homes since 2014, despite a lease agreement submitted to AIG that claims she would pay him $13,000 a month.

The Danielle Drive properties and a third Danielle Drive home bought by a holding company allegedly tied to Carl Risoldi are among the direct and indirect Risoldi assets currently frozen under a court order.

Morris testified that while he knew the $13,000-a-month rent was the amount the insurance company had allotted under the 2013 fire claim for family living expenses, he knew he wasn’t going to be paid that amount up front.

When Montag asked Morris if he knew the rental agreement with Risoldi would be in support of an insurance claim related to the last fire in 2013 that significantly damaged Clairemont, he replied that he had “no idea.”

“I really didn’t ask,” Morris said. “I’ve known Claire 25 years. I trust her.”

But McMahon contended that among the payment options the family and Morris had discussed was selling the home after the lease expired in November 2016 and then using those proceeds to reimburse Morris for the back rent; the Risoldis would keep any other profit.

In his first interview with the attorney general’s office in December, Morris told investigators that the Risoldis were going to deduct the monthly rent and settle with him “at the end.”

On Tuesday, Morris testified he wasn’t clear on the details of that future arrangement but that he expected he would be paid “eventually.”

“I trusted something would get done at the end,” he said. “It wasn’t a big deal to me that I was counting nickels.”

$20 million insurance fraud trial against Buckingham socialite starts

Posted: January 15, 2019

Claire Risoldi

Millions and greed.

Those are the two words that Pennsylvania Senior Deputy Attorney General Linda Montag and Philadelphia defense attorney Jack McMahon agreed are critical elements in the criminal case against Claire Risoldi, the politically connected Buckingham socialite accused of participating in a $20 million insurance fraud scheme related to fire damage at her 10-acre estate.

But the attorneys applied the words in vastly different ways during their opening arguments Tuesday at the Bucks County Justice Center in Doylestown in Risoldi’s long-awaited trial.

Montag told jurors that Risoldi enjoyed a lavish lifestyle worthy of the Kardashian family, but still wanted more. And she wanted insurance company AIG to pay for it.

“Greed is what she is,” she said.

McMahon countered that the case is about millions of dollars, but that it’s money owed his client who is being victimized by a “huge, infamous” insurance company that took her money to insure $10 million in still-missing jewelry and now doesn’t want to pay.

“That is why we are here. That is the whole reason we are here,” McMahon said. “It’s about the millions of dollars (AIG) tried to weasel out of.”

Chester County Senior Judge Thomas Gavin is overseeing what is expected to be a two-week trial for the 71-year-old Risoldi, who was indicted four years ago on charges including insurance fraud, witness intimidation, receiving stolen property and forgery. Before opening arguments, Gavin told jurors that while they will hear testimony about fires at the Stony Hill Road home known as Clairemont, there is no evidence of arson and it should not be a factor in their consideration of the charges against Risoldi.

Prosecutors say they’ll show that Risoldi used false receipts, appraisals and other documents and lied under oath to bilk AIG out of $20 million in fraudulent and inflated insurance claims in 2009, 2010 and 2013 to fund her lavish lifestyle that included exotic cars and multiple homes.

The family also claimed volunteer firefighters stole jewelry valued at $10 million during the 2013 blaze, an allegation that has since been found to be false. All but three pieces of the jewelry remain missing, according to the family, which has filed a federal civil suit against AIG, which is refusing to pay the claim.

“You will learn a lot about how an insurance claim is made,” Montag told the jury of 11 men and one woman. “Claim plus a lie equals insurance fraud.”

Evidence will show the family upped the insurance coverage on the jewelry from $100,000 on two pieces to $10 million on 55 pieces six weeks before the 2013 fire, Montag said. The appraisals valuing the jewelry at $10 million also were allegedly falsified, the prosecutor said, citing the misspelling of the word jewelry 21 times, and blank and altered appraisal sheets found at Risoldi’s Danielle Drive home while executing a search warrant.

McMahon portrayed AIG as a “greedy” corporation that only pays claims when it is forced, but had no qualms cashing the $128,000 premium check Risoldi gave them to insure the jewelry. After the family reported the jewelry missing in 2013, AIG didn’t help them recover it, but instead enlisted the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office to go after the insured, referring to Claire Risoldi.

“AIG never intended to look for one piece of jewelry,” McMahon said. “If they found one piece of this jewelry ... then the narrative this jewelry didn’t exist is gone.”

McMahon told jurors that the $10 million in jewelry was kept in six bank safety deposit boxes, which Claire Risoldi’s son, Carl Risoldi, was asked to retrieve in October 2013, which records and video will show happened. Claire Risoldi wanted the jewelry to pick out pieces to wear for a political fundraiser turned surprise wedding at Clairemont held roughly a week before the fire, McMahon said.

A defense witness will show photos taken the day of the fire, and later enhanced, that show the two bags containing the jewelry on a chair in the foyer of Clairemont, as the family contends, McMahon said.

McMahon told jurors that Claire’s late first husband, Carl, made “lots” of cash in the tile and marble business and the family lived lavishly long before the first insurance claims were filed. The $375,000 in claims Risoldi collected in 1984, 1993 and 2002 amounted to $18,500 a year — an amount that would last Claire Risoldi “two weeks” with her lifestyle, he said.