Two years ago, Rainier Miguel Salas and two licensed Florida insurance agents were charged with selling insurance agent licenses—all part of an illicit licensing school in Miami.
This week, 12 others in the Miami area were charged with participating in the operation and obtaining licenses by paying Salas’ testing center to have others take the licensing exam for them.
An arrest affidavit, filed this week in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, shows that investigators with Florida Department of Financial Services found that D&R Financial Services, owned by Salas, had been providing pre-licensing education and “subverting the state’s contracted testing vendor, Pearson VUE, by completing online coursework” and licensing exams on behalf of the applicants.
Cynthia Pinto, of Miami, age 40, was one of the main organizers of the enterprise, the arrest report notes. Eleven others were arrested and were booked into the Turner Guilford Correctional Center in Miami, according to court records and local news reports.
Salas in April 2025 pleaded guilty in connection with running the center. A judge ordered Salas to six months of community service and two years of probation.
A Florida appeals court decision, reinterpreting a 32-year-old workers’ compensation statute, could now mean a longer statute of limitations on many injury claims and may lead to the reopening of many cases around the state.
The lead claimants’ attorney in the case, Randall Porcher, of the Morgan & Morgan law firm, wrote in his appeal brief that the impact of a “two clocks” statute of limitations will be largely prospective, mostly affecting pending and future claims for permanent disability. Defense lawyer George Kagan, who was not involved in the litigation, agreed that most old claims cannot be revisited, but hundreds of pending claims will be governed by the new interpretation.
But others in the state, including an insurance defense attorney and an Orlando plaintiffs’ lawyer, said some major headaches are ahead for employers and comp insurers who believed that many claims had been laid to rest.