Founder of Miami's Estrella Insurance in legal battle over sinking of his ... - MiamiHerald.com
In the early morning of May 3, 2009, auto insurance mogul Nicolas Estrella's 80-foot yacht was stolen from the dock next to his Mediterranean mansion on Key Biscayne.
Last week, state insurance fraud detectives arrested the vessel's former boat captain, Robert Figueredo, on charges of stealing Star One — before he allegedly sank it off the Bahamas.
But the case does not involve a routine theft, according to the insurance company that refuses to pay Estrella's $3 million claim for the loss of his Azimut yacht. In a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by Estrella, Federal Insurance Co. in turn has accused him of collaborating with Figueredo to purposely sink Star One to collect a big insurance payout.
Estrella, 60, who founded Estrella Insurance in 1978 and built it into an insurance powerhouse, strongly denies Federal's accusation "essentially alleging fraud," saying in court papers that "he did not do this or pay to have the boat sunk."
Estrella's civil attorney, Robert Burlington, said his client "is a victim of theft and a victim of an insurance company that has three million excuses for not paying an insured loss. . . . Mr. Estrella owned the boat outright, free and clear. All Mr. Estrella knows about the disappearance of his boat is that it was stolen when he was in Texas on his cattle ranch."
In the court papers, Estrella's attorney said the insurer's accusation is based on the false claim of Figueredo's "jealous" ex-girlfriend, Lorene Bariso. She claims Figueredo told her that he and a colleague sank Estrella's boat for the insurance money.
Figueredo, in depositions, disputed her account, saying he did not sink Estrella's boat, nor was he paid to do it. His accused "accomplice," Eric MacKenzie, also denied helping Figueredo. In a separate federal case, MacKenzie was convicted earlier this year of smuggling Haitian migrants from the Bahamas to South Florida in a go-fast boat in 2011, records show.
Estrella's attorney, Burlington, said Figueredo last worked for Estrella 10 years ago and was not the captain of Star One, as Federal Insurance has insisted to create the impression that he and the owner were in cahoots to sink his luxury power boat. "Mr. Estrella does not believe that Mr. Figueredo took the boat," he said.
Estrella's legal fight to collect from Federal Insurance is going to trial in U.S. District Court in Miami in early June. The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office also faces a deadline early next month to file formal first-degree grand theft charges against Figueredo.
Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the state attorney, said the prosecution involves just a "theft case."
But a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Financial Services' insurance fraud division, which filed the criminal complaint against Figueredo, said the case is still under investigation.
"We don't have a definitive motive for" the alleged theft of Estrella's yacht, said department spokeswoman Anna Alexopoulos. "We're still trying to connect the dots."
The New Jersey-based company that insured Estrella's boat maintains it has connected many of those dots. In a counterclaim to Estrella's suit, Federal Insurance paints a picture of a profit-making plot.
14 May, 2012
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