by alex davidson
A prominent insurance agent in a Guyanese neighborhood in Ozone Park and his friend were charged with conspiring to commit murder last week in connection with an alleged insurance scheme that led to the deaths of at least two people, federal officials said.
According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn Sept. 3, federal investigators allege that Richard James, a life insurance agent, and his friend, Ronald Mallay, masterminded a plot to sell insurance to their Guyanese friends and family, murder them and then collect on the policies.
Federal investigators charged James, 42, and Mallay, 57, with conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Basdeo Somaipersaud in January 1998 and Hardeo (Rawan) Sewanna, Mallay’s nephew, in June 1999. Both James and Mallay are being held without bail.
Investigators are also reviewing a total of 21 “unusual” policies James issued in a short time while writing policies for MetLife, a MetLife spokeswoman said. The policies in question are independent of the alleged murder plot, the spokeswoman said.
Community members and businesses surrounding James’ Liberty Avenue office had mixed reactions to the arrests and details of the suspected murder plot.
“A lot of people are shocked,” said a liquor store clerk who would only identify herself as Jennifer. “A lot of people are talking about it, and I believe it.”
Most people in the community had little to say or were unaware that federal investigators had taken James into custody, despite his high visibility as a business leader and cable television personality.
“We’ve seen him around walking here,” said Angela Singh, an Ozone Park resident. “He’s a good guy.”
James, an insurance agent since 1991 in Ozone Park, was the subject of an internal MetLife probe initiated from an outside source’s anonymous tip, the federal complaint said. He was taken into custody by federal investigators in June after federal they became aware of the MetLife probe.
Federal officials uncovered the suspected connection between James and Mallay when two anonymous sources involved in the plot came forward.
James’ attorney, Thomas Sheehan, and Mallay’s attorney, Richard Rosenkranz, have claimed that the confidential sources who are at the center of the complaint are unreliable.
Manhattan-based Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America, for which James worked from August 2000 until Aug. 1, 2002, is also now conducting an audit of his policies, a spokeswoman said. She said the company was not initially aware of James’ arrest because he ran an independent office.
The federal complaint detailed the MetLife investigation into James’ policies, revealing that the rate of death claims of individuals insured under his policies was “approximately 318 percent higher than expected or by chance and that a large number of the deaths were violent or under unusual circumstances.”
It also found transcripts of conversations the confidential sources had with Mallay and James about payment for murdering specific individuals, whom federal officials believe to be Somaipersaud and Sewanna, the complaint said.
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
