Inner London Crown Court has sentenced Leon Price to a total of five years and three months in prison after the fraudulent insurance broker was found guilty of diverting customer payments totalling more than £133,000 into his own account. His actions left customers without cover for their homes, vehicles and commercial premises.

Detective Oliver Gent of the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department, said: “Leon Price systematically abused his position of trust to defraud customers and insurers, leaving victims uninsured and exposed to serious financial risk. His actions demonstrate the devastating impact of insurance fraud – not only financially, but in the risks it creates for innocent people.

“Thanks to the vigilance of insurers and the cooperation between industry partners, IFED was able to uncover the scale of Price’s offending and bring him to justice. This case highlights the importance of partnership working and intelligence sharing in tackling fraud.”

LV= General Insurance (part of Allianz) discovered the fraud after raising concerns that an address used by Price already related to another customer.

Matt Crabtree, head of financial crime, intelligence and investigations at Allianz, said:
“Insurance fraud continues to be a serious problem. In this case, our fraud teams spotted the insider concerns when validating a suspicious policy. Even though we were one of a panel of insurers used by the brokers, I’m pleased that our special investigations team went on to uncover the true extent of Price’s wide ranging and prolonged frauds, while the support of the senior leaders at our broker and officers at IFED led to his swift arrest upon our referral.”