Two Brooklyn men in viral car crash video headed to prison for insurance fraud schemes
News 12 previously reported on one of these incidents, where a viral video shows a car on the Belt Parkway hit the brakes and reverse into a car.
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The Queens district attorney sentenced two Brooklyn men to prison after they pleaded guilty to charges relating to staging car crashes to get insurance payouts.
News 12 previously reported on one of these incidents, where a viral video shows a car on the Belt Parkway hit the brakes and reverse into a car.
Prosecutors say 53-year-old Jaime Huiracocha and 34-year-old Victor Murillo, both from Brooklyn, were found guilty of recruiting people and staging car crashes for insurance payouts on three separate occasions in 2024.
They say Huiracocha and Murillo would drive in separate cars, and that Huiracocha would direct Murillo on orchestrating the crashes. Typically, Murillo would hit the brakes, and on one occasion, even reverse into a car to cause a crash. Murillo would then sneak into the passenger seat, having other passengers block the view in the rearview window.
Murillo would then get in the getaway car and drive off. The remaining passengers would get out pretending to be injured. Prosecutors say Murillo would direct them on clinics to go to, all in an effort to get injury and damage insurance payouts.
Huiracocha was sentenced to one to three years in prison after pleading guilty to insurance fraud and conspiracy charges. Murillo was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to charges including staging a motor vehicle accident, insurance fraud and conspiracy.
Prosecutors say Maikel Martinez and Ivon Matus-Martinez were also alleged participants in the crashes. They pleaded guilty and are expected to be sentenced next month.
Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of insurance fraud is urged to call the Insurance Fraud Hotline at 888-372-8369 or visit dfs.ny.gov/consumers to file an online report.
