rance payouts.

If a staged accident causes serious bodily injury, convicted fraudsters can face up to 20 years behind bars, or life if the crash causes a death.

Gillen was joined in rolling out the bill by Nicholas Díaz-Baquero, a Garden City Uber driver who suffered a back injury in what he suspects was a staged crash.

 We both had our left signals on to turn, and there was no traffic in front of us,  he recounted.  Suddenly, the vehicle ahead stopped for no apparent reason, and a driver coming from behind at a very high speed slammed into both of us. I had no chance to avoid it.

4 Jaime Huiracocha and Victor Murillo were sentenced to one and two years respectively in prison for their scheme.

 It's frustrating and heartbreaking that honest drivers can be put in this position just trying to make a living. 

Last month, Jaime Huiracocha, 53, and Victor Murillo, 34, copped to insurance fraud after staging three accidents in August and October 2024 that netted their crew more than $80,000 in insurance payouts.

 We've seen a pretty significant increase in this form of fraud in recent years,  said Kyle McCollum, vice president of government affairs at the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).  It's becoming a very lucrative and attractive form of auto insurance fraud for organized actors out there.

4 The two madmen carried out a somewhat sophisticated scheme to rip off auto insurance companies.

 It is a highly organized type of crime, and I think it compels a very organized response. 

According to NICB data, reports of staged accidents have increased by 35% across the US between 2024 and 2025, and 52% over the first half of this decade.

DC has the highest rate of confirmed staged crashes in America at 19.79 per 100,000 residents, followed by California (13.18 per 100,000 residents) and New York (11.61 per 100,000).

 It sends that signal from the top down that we're not going to stand for this type of fraud,  McCollum said of the House legislation.  I think it also provides an additional tool for federal prosecutors. Historically, they've had to prosecute this form of fraud more under the wire fraud statute.

 So this actually clarifies and makes abundantly clear that staging a motor vehicle accident itself is a federal crime.