Ex-Valley Insurance Agent Behind Bars After $3.7M Scheme

LOS ANGELES, CA — A former Northridge insurance agent sentenced Monday to over four years in federal prison for bilking a lender out of $3.7 million as part of a scheme centered around bogus insurance policies for fine art.

Tonja Van Roy, 59, was sentenced in downtown Los Angeles by U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson, who also ordered her to pay $1.88 million in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Van Roy pleaded guilty in January to one count of wire fraud.

Van Roy owned and ran Pegasus Insurance, a company specializing in insurance policies covering art collections. From January 2021 to December 2023, Van Roy created and submitted dozens of fraudulent finance agreements to AFCO Credit Corp., an Illinois company that provides loans for insurance premiums, according to court documents.

Van Roy made up the insurance policy numbers she used and forged the electronic signatures for fictitious clients, whom she claimed were art galleries seeking to insure their works, according to court documents.

She used the borrowed money to fund her lifestyle, which included payments on dozens of credit cards, court documents show.

When the loans from AFCO came due, Van Roy submitted additional fraudulent finance agreements to AFCO, and used the proceeds from the new loans to make it appear as though the old loans had been repaid, prosecutors said.

"The initial fraudulent loans were repaid with the funds Van Roy received from the subsequent fraudulent loans, similar to the pattern seen in a Ponzi scheme," state insurance officials said in a statement.

City News Service contributed to this report.