A reserve Los Angeles Police Department officer and his brother are facing felony charges after they allegedly committed insurance fraud with a Bentley convertible.
Eric Benjamin Halem, 37, and his 32-year-old brother Jacob Halem were investigated by the California Department of Insurance, the agency said in a news release.
The elder Halem, who serves as a reserve officer for the LAPD but was formerly a full-time officer, is accused of falsely reporting a crash involving a 2020 Bentley Continental GT, officials said.
According to CDI officials, Benjamin Halem claimed his brother Jacob was the one driving the luxury vehicle when it was involved in a single-vehicle crash on Jan. 5, 2023.
The Bentley, however, had been rented out through Ben Halem’s company, Drive LA, which offers exotic car rentals and other services. Drive LA’s website shows a Bentley Continental GTC available to be rented for $875 per day.
It was during a rental period three days before the reported crash that the damage was actually done, CDI said, and it was the unnamed renter, not Jacob Halem, who was driving at the time.
After the driver’s insurance claim was denied by their company, Ben Halem “allegedly filed a fraudulent claim with his insurance company on his personal policy, misrepresenting the accident details,” the release explained.
“He claimed that his brother, Jacob Halem, had been driving the vehicle at the time of the crash. To support their false claim, Eric and Jacob Halem submitted staged photographs of the damaged Bentley on a tow truck near the alleged accident location,” CDI said.
Jacob Halem also “provided a false statement to the insurance company investigator in an effort to corroborate his brother’s fraudulent claim,” officials said.
Their attempt was unsuccessful, however, as insurance adjusters used body-camera footage from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responding to the real crash to demonstrate that the damage to the vehicle was done in the renter’s crash on Jan. 2, 2023, not three days later.
State officials said the fraud could have cost the insurance company more than $229,000.
“Insurance fraud impacts all Californians by driving up costs for consumers and businesses,” CDI said. “If you suspect insurance fraud, report it to the California Department of Insurance at 800-927-4357 or visit insurance.ca.gov.”
Jail records show Ben Halem was arrested on March 27 and is free on $50,000 bond. Jacob Halem did not appear in a search of the records.
The two men have been arraigned, CDI said, but no court information was available.
