Department of Financial Services Employee Arrested for Alleged Employer Shakedown
Who will watch the watchmen? That question crossed my mind when I read this story from the 11/6/2008 edition of the Miami Herald. According to the story, Arturo Vega, an investigator with the Florida Department of Financial Services, was arrested for trying to shake down a Miami employer which had failed to obtain workers' compensation insurance coverage for its employees. Vega had determined that Pipe Designs, Inc., in Miami did not have proper coverage and charged the company with about $30,000 in penalties. However, he allegedly reduced the proposed penalties down to $7,483.69 in return for two $1,000 money orders with the payee information left blank. One of those money orders was deposited with the state in order to lift a stop work order which had been entered against Pipe Designs, but the other Vega allegedly kept for himself.
