McCordsville Man Sentenced to Prison for Fraud

A former claims processor for a central Indiana travel insurance business has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison on wire fraud charges. Acting U.S. Attorney John Childress’ office says Wesley Smith of McCordsville was accused of bilking Carmel-based Seven Corners out of more than $750,000.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says Smith devised a scheme with three friends that took place between 2015 and 2017. Smith created and approved fraudulent travel insurance claims that were purportedly submitted by claimants from the Family Motor Coach Association, a client of Seven Corners. 

Smith then arranged for payment to be made for the claims to each of his co-conspirators, who were identified as officials from towing companies that had reportedly towed the claimants’ RVs. After the co-conspirators received the payments, they sent half of the funds back to Smith through wire transfers.

The scheme resulted in nearly $500,000 in losses to Seven Corners. Childress’ office says Smith also committed other fraud schemes on his own that caused the company nearly $250,000 in losses.

“Stealing from your employer or any corporate business, not only affects that business, it eventually affects us all,” Childress said in a news release. “Smith was placed in a position of trust to make honest decisions, instead he allowed greed to dictate his decisions and he is now being held accountable.”

In addition to his prison sentence, Smith was ordered to pay nearly $760,000 in restitution and serve two years of supervised release after his prison term ends.