Summary

Partner in Miami Airport's Largest Public-Works Contract Sentenced for Insurance Fraud Date: March 17, 2004 Type: Investigation Summary: Linda Forrest, owner of Forrest Management Construction Services (FMCS), was ordered to spend a year and a day in prison by a U.S. District Court judge in Miami, FL, for insurance fraud. She will also have to repay $158,000 to Casualty Reciprocal Exchange, the insurance company she defrauded. Forrest pleaded guilty in May 2003. During an unrelated investigation conducted by the IRS, FBI, and OIG, it was learned that Forrest conspired with employees of Casualty Reciprocal Exchange to file false personal-injury medical claims. Using an FCMS sister company, Lexor Property Management, Inc., as the payee on the claims, Forrest cashed checks for $125,000, paying two-thirds to the insurance company employees and keeping one-third for herself.



Forrest's firm, FMCS, is one of eight partners comprising Dade Aviation Consultants, which was contracted in 1992 by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department to manage all of Miami International Airport's ongoing $5 billion construction projects, which are federally funded. FMCS was included as a minority business enterprise.