Ali F. Elmezayen, 45, was driving a vehicle – with his wife and two children inside – from a Los Angeles port in San Pedro Bay in April 2015. Elmezayen escaped the submerged car through the open window. His ex-wife, Rabab Diab, did not know how to swim, but he survived when a fisherman nearby threw him a life jacket.
The couple’s children, Elhassan, 13, and Abdelkrim, 8, drowned. The two children would have autism, the statement said.
US District Judge John F. Walter called the Elmezayen scheme “evil and diabolical”.
“The only regret the defendant has is that he was caught,” said Walter.
Prosecutors found that the children’s deaths were part of Elmezayen’s elaborate insurance scheme. He purchased more than $ 3 million in life and accidental death insurance policies for himself and his family from eight different companies between July 2012 and July 2013, the statement said.
The Justice Department says that Elmezayen started buying these policies in the same year that it ended the bankruptcy process. He paid more than $ 6,000 a year on these policies.
Prosecutors found that after purchasing the policies, Elmezayen repeatedly called insurance companies to see if the policies were active and whether they would pay the benefits if his ex-wife died in an accident. Elmezayen sometimes even pretended to be his ex-wife because he made some policies in his name, the statement said.
Elmezayen left the dock at the port of Los Angeles 12 days after the two-year challenge period for his last insurance policy had expired, the statement said.
“Elmezayen then raised more than $ 260,000 in insurance proceeds from Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance and American General Life Insurance on the accidental death insurance policies he had done on the lives of the children,” said the statement.
He used part of the money to buy property in Egypt and a boat, the statement said.
“It is unthinkable for any parent to risk their family’s lives for their own financial gain,” said Ryan L. Korner, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation.
FBI agents arrested Elmezayen in November 2018, the statement said. He has remained in federal custody since his arrest.
As part of his sentence, Elmezayen also had to pay $ 261,751 in refund to insurers he defrauded, the statement said.