“Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime.  We all pay the price in higher premiums.  We recognize that insurance fraud is rampant in California and this country and appreciate the efforts of CDI investigators and detectives to identify, investigate and arrest those suspected of committing this crime.”

– CSLEA President Alan Barcelona

LOS ANGELES — On January 31, 2024, Shannon Ninio, 60, of North Hills, was arraigned on charges related to insurance fraud after a California Department of Insurance (CDI) investigation found she and her husband, Moshe Ninio, allegedly stole their rental car company’s customers’ personal information and used that information to file more than 40 fraudulent auto insurance claims and collect nearly $200,000 in undeserved payouts.

Moshe Ninio was arraigned on 18 felony counts of insurance fraud on December 22, 2023. The Ninios’ son-in-law, Ivan Lebedynets, 33, of Winnetka, was arraigned on January 29, 2024 for his alleged involvement in the scheme.

CDI began its investigation after an insurance company alleged that Moshe Ninio, owner of AT Car Rental, stole the identities of his customers to obtain auto insurance policies in their name to insure his fleet of rental cars. Shannon Ninio was also owner of the company and Lebedynets was their employee.

The investigation found that when their customers would get into legitimate accidents, Moshe Ninio would file insurance claims impersonating his identity theft victims who were listed as the policyholder. While posing as that policyholder, he would claim he gave permission to a “friend,” who was actually the current vehicle renter, to drive the vehicle, all to disguise their rental car business. Shannon Ninio and Lebedynets also allegedly posed as policyholders for many of the claims. Between September 2018 and July of 2020, 47 auto insurance claims were filed under the fraudulent policies. The total paid loss for the claims was $192,282.

During the course of this investigation, 15 individuals who were listed as policyholders were interviewed and the majority of the identity theft victims stated they had previously rented vehicles from Moshe Ninio. They also stated that they never opened any of the fraudulent insurance policies and that their personal information was used without their permission.

Moshe and Shannon Ninio were arrested December 21, 2023. Lebedynets self-surrendered and was arraigned on January 29, 2024. All three are scheduled to return to court on April 10, 2024. This case is being prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.