A married couple from New Bedford, Massachusetts was sentenced yesterday for a scheme to defraud at least 50 individuals or insurance providers seeking insurance coverage through their business, BL Insurance Brokerage, LLC.

According to U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley, a federal district court judge in Boston sentenced Brendan and Lisa Lawler to eight months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The defendants were also ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a later date.

Federal prosecutors said that the Lawlers defrauded at least 50 individuals or insurance providers. Court documents claim that the Lawlers stole at least $462,247.89 from insurance providers and premium finance companies, and at least $307,486.33 from lenders.

In March, the Lawlers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The two were charged by criminal complaint in August 2025.

According to prosecutors, from March 2023 through March 2024, the couple solicited and collected insurance payments from BL Insurance’s clients that should have been paid to the clients’ insurance providers. Instead of paying the insurance companies, the Lawlers pocketed their clients’ payments and used the money for their own purposes.

Prosecutors maintain that when clients discovered that they did not have the coverage they had paid for, the Lawlers made excuses to conceal the scheme. In addition to the false certificates of insurance, they also sent clients images of mail tracking numbers, receipts, and checks that they falsely claimed showed payments that they had mailed or made.

According to the affidavit, the victims included an insurance brokerage in Daytona Beach, Florida that obtained insurance coverage for its clients and insurance customers who operated law offices in New Bedford and East Boston.

On its website, BL Insurance had identified itself as a full-service insurance brokerage based in Fairhaven that was licensed in several states, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, New Jersey, and Connecticut. BL Insurance purported to offer professional liability, general liability, commercial property, financial products, and personal insurance.

Topics Fraud Agencies