Politics
California dad gets 212 years behind bars for murdering two autistic sons in staged crash so he could collect insurance
AN EVIL dad who killed his two autistic sons in a staged car accident so he could cash in on their insurance policies has been jailed for 212 years.
Cold-blooded killer Ali F. Elmezayen, 45, received the maximum sentence allowed by law for his “evil and diabolical” actions.
The evil dad killed his sons in a staged car accident by driving off a wharf in California[/caption]
He drove his ex-wife and two severely autistic sons, aged 8 and 13, off a wharf, in a bid to collect the money due under their insurance policies.
The California-based dad took out $3 million of life and accidental death insurance policies on himself and his family from eight different insurance companies ahead of his sick plot.
US District Judge John F. Walter, who sentenced Elmezayen, called the scheme “evil and diabolical” as well as “vicious and callous”.
“He is the ultimate phony and a skillful liar…and is nothing more than a greedy and brutal killer,” Judge Walter said.
“The only regret that the defendant has is that he got caught.”
Walter also ordered Elmezayen to pay $261,751 in restitution to the insurance companies that he defrauded, reported Fox News.
Between July 2012 and March 2013, Elmezayen bought more than $3 million of life and accidental death insurance policies on himself and his family from eight different insurance companies.
Elmezayen paid premiums in excess of $6,000 per year for these policies — despite reporting income of less than $30,000 per year on his tax returns.
The fraudulent dad repeatedly called the insurance companies to verify that the policies were active and they would pay out if his ex-wife died in an accident.
Elmezayen also called at least two of the insurance companies to confirm his claims would not be investigated two years after he purchased the policies.
These telephone calls were recorded and played for the jury in his trial.
In April 2015 Elmezayen drove a car with his ex-wife and two youngest children off a wharf at the Port of Los Angeles.
Elmezayen escaped through the open driver’s side window of the car and swam to safety.
His ex-wife escaped the vehicle and was rescued by a nearby fisherman, but two of the couple’s three sons ‒ who were 8 and 13 and both severely autistic ‒ tragically drowned.
The couple’s third son was away at camp at the time.
Elmezayen collected more than $260,000 in insurance proceeds on the accidental death insurance policies he had taken out on the children’s lives.
He used part of the insurance proceeds to purchase real estate in Egypt as well as a boat.
“Mr Elmezayen conceived a cold-blooded plan to murder his autistic sons and their mother, then cash in on insurance policies,” said acting United States Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison.
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“He now has ample time to reflect ‒ from the inside of a federal prison cell ‒ on where his greed and self-interest took him. We continue to grieve for those two helpless boys who deserved better from their father, who will never again walk among us as a free man.”
Elmezayen was arrested in November 2018 and he has remained in federal custody ever since.
Elmezayen, an Egyptian national, was found guilty in October 2019 of four counts of mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and five counts of money laundering.
