SPOKANE, Wash. — After pleading guilty to a staged accident scheme, numerous counts of fraud and lying to the FBI, 52-year-old Ali Abed Yaser of Kennewick has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. In October 2022, he pleaded guilty to:
conspiracy to obstruct an official proceedingmaking false statements to the FBIconspiracy to commit mail and wire fraudconspiracy to commit health care fraudtwo counts of mail fraud
Yaser was sentenced by Judge Mary Dimke in January 2023 to 42 months in prison, then three years of court supervision after release. He must also pay $126,990 in restitution and $19,978 in forfeiture, according to the press release.
The 52-year-old was first investigated by the FBI along with multiple other people in February 2019 regarding a scheme with staged car accidents and false insurance claims. During this investigation, the FBI used a confidential human source (CHS), someone who records the suspected people’ conversations in secret. The DOJ reports a federal jury authorized further investigation into the group.
According to court documents, Yaser staged a car accident in Benton County in May 2019 for a $126,990 payout. Yaser claimed he was involved in an accident that led to bodily injury and wage loss, even though he wasn’t in the car at the time of the crash.
When the FBI searched homes for evidence related to the scheme, Yaser reportedly held a meeting at his home. He suspected someone was giving information to the FBI, according to court documents. During the meeting, he told the CHS to be careful of whoever was giving the FBI information.
When Yaser believed he knew who the FBI informant was, he planned to make a false complaint against them and the FBI agent on his case, according to the DOJ. He tried to get others in on his plan, including the actual CHS, to accuse the agent of accepting a $20,000 bribe from the person Yaser suspected. He reportedly went through with this plan during an interview with the FBI in September 2020.
“When faced with the discovery of his fraud scheme, Mr. Yaser doubled down,” said Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office, Richard A. Collodi. “Despite his efforts to discredit law enforcement, the full extent of his crimes was revealed and thwarted. I am thankful for the hard work of our investigators and partners to hold Mr. Yaser accountable for his actions.”
