She wanted a life insurance payout — so Georgia woman faked friend’s death, feds say
A woman in Georgia received a hefty payout after she claimed to be the beneficiary on a life insurance policy belonging to a friend killed in a car accident, prosecutors said.
There was just one problem — her friend wasn’t dead.
Brandi L. Browning pleaded guilty to wire fraud in federal court this week, prosecutors in the Middle District of Georgia said Wednesday in a news release. The 35-year-old faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and mandatory restitution when she’s sentenced in December.
“To falsify the death of a person to commit insurance and wire fraud is truly reprehensible,” said Clint Bush, resident agent in charge with the U.S. Secret Service.
Browning is from Norman Park, Georgia, about 121 miles south of Macon.
According to federal court filings, a grand jury indicted Browning on wire fraud charges last year. Browning was arrested in March 2020 and released on a $15,000 unsecured bond. The case was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prosecutors said the charges stem from late 2017, when Browning reportedly told a financial company in Kansas City she wanted to sell a pending life insurance claim.
“Browning told the company that a friend had died in a car accident, and under the friend’s life insurance policy, Browning was entitled to receive $250,000,” prosecutors said in Wednesday’s release.
Browning offered to sell her right to the policy in exchange for $217,500, according to the government.
She is accused of following up with fake documents to push the alleged fraud forward — including an agreement seemingly signed by an attorney that purported to show Browning was a party in a wrongful death lawsuit involving the car accident.
But the attorney — much like the car accident — wasn’t real, prosecutors said.
Browning’s statements to the company were half-truths. According to prosecutors, the friend did have a life insurance policy, but Browning wasn’t the beneficiary. The person was also still very much alive.
The company ultimately agreed to pay Browning the $217,500 in January 2018 and wired the funds to her mother-in-law, the government said.
“Browning told her mother-in-law that the money was an inheritance her husband had received, and that same day checks were written to purchase two vehicles for Browning and her husband, as well as a $128,329 manufactured home in Browning’s name,” prosecutors said in the release. “Within weeks, all of the $217,500 had been spent.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 1:45 PM with the headline "She wanted a life insurance payout — so Georgia woman faked friend’s death, feds say."
