Leesburg Accountant, Attorney Scammed Life Insurance Company out of $500,000

A Leesburg attorney and an accountant, who scammed an insurance company into paying out $507,000 for his deceased wife’s life insurance policy, both pleaded guilty this week to wire fraud in U.S. District Court.

James C. Cilenti, 47, and his attorney Christopher Agresto, 36, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Cilenti also pleaded guilty to one county of aggravated identity theft in connection with a separate Social Security scam. They face up to 20 years in prison on the fraud charge, and Cilenti will serve at least a two-year mandatory sentence for the identity theft charge.

Court records state USAA Life Insurance Company refused to pay Cilenti, who was the beneficiary, the proceeds from his deceased wife’s $500,000 life insurance policy because he was a person of interest in the death investigation. Cilenti’s adopted daughter was the contingent beneficiary of the policy. Cilenti then hired Agresto, a Leesburg attorney, to create a trust for Cilenti’s adopted daughter so that the proceeds could be paid out. Agresto was the trustee of the account and USAA deposited $507,000 into the trust because both men lied to USAA that Cilenti would never benefit from the money or have access to it.

Within a week of USAA wiring the money to the trust account, Agresto wrote two checks to Cilenti that totaled $400,000. Cilenti deposited the money into his business account. Over the next five weeks, Agresto wrote more checks to Cilenti and made wire transfers from the trust account totaling $40,000, all of which was deposited into Cilenti’s business account. In the end, very little of the money actually benefited his stepdaughter.

Cilenti also applied for survivor benefits from the Social Security Administration on behalf of his adopted daughter, forging her signature and using her Social Security number without her knowledge or permission. Cilenti received $7,600 for this scam.

A sentencing date has not been scheduled yet.