Auto and home insurer Plymouth Rock Assurance announced an affinity program with the North Jersey Chamber of Commerce (NJCC) offering personal auto and home insurance discounts to all NJCC members and their employees in New Jersey.
Greg Kalinsky, president and CEO of the Plymouth Rock Management Co. of New Jersey, said the deal will offer exclusive savings to Chamber members and their employees on their auto and home insurance.
The company said that in addition to discounts, the program promises tailored coverage options, dedicated service, home bundling options and other benefits like the Get Home Safe taxi and rideshare reimbursement, and Crashbusters mobile claim service.
JCC membership includes more than 165 cities in 13 counties throughout northern New Jersey.
“In a state like New Jersey, where the cost of living is organically high and transportation plays such a vital role in our professional and personal lives, finding ways to save matters more than ever,” said Michelle Vernuccio, president of the NJCC.
According to Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, business owner Mahendranauth Khargie of Rockville Centre and his company, GC Stud Inc., of Queens, pleaded guilty to insurance fraud in October. GC Stud, Inc. also pleaded guilty to a violation of the New York’s workers’ compensation law.
Kargie was sentenced to a conditional discharge and made a full restitution payment of $625,000 to the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF). If Khargie had failed to pay the restitution for the lost premiums in full, he faced a prison sentence of two to six years.
“This company underreported millions of dollars of payroll, allowing them to dodge $600,000 in insurance premiums that every other honest employer has to pay,” said Donnelly.
“The restitution paid should serve as a deterrent to any business attempting to cheat the workers’ compensation system,” said NYSIF Executive Director and CEO Gaurav Vasisht.
According to the charges, annual audits by NYSIF Premium Fraud Investigators revealed the defendants substantially underreported the total amount of their payroll during three policy periods between April 2019 and March 2022, resulting in premium fraud.
As a NYSIF workers’ compensation policyholder, Khargie is required to provide financial records concerning income and employee payroll to NYSIF every year the policy holder renews its coverage. Prosecutors said that Khargie received large payments from three different steel and iron fabrication companies during the time of the investigation bur he and his company hid the money and did not provide that account to the NYSIF premium auditors.