Father sentenced after drowning his autistic sons in ‘diabolical’ insurance scheme, prosecutors said
About 6 years ago, a father put money over family when he drove them into the San Pedro Bay in order to collect their life insurance policies
SAN PEDRO, Calif. (KLKN)- A man was sentenced to 212 years in federal prison for killing his two autistic sons in an insurance scheme valued at more than $260,000, a news release from the Justice Department said on Thursday.
Ali F. Elmezayen, 45, was driving with his wife and two sons when he drove off a Los Angeles port into the San Pedro Bay (pictured above) in April 2015. While the car was submerged, Elmezayen escaped through his open window and his ex-wife, Rabab Diab, survived when a nearby fisherman threw her a life preserver.
But their sons, 13-year-old Elhassan and 8-year-old Abdelkrim, drowned.
US District Judge John F. Walter called Elmezayen’s scheme “evil and diabolical.”
“The only regret that the defendant has is that he got caught,” Walter said.
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Prosecutors soon found out the children’s death was not an accident and was apart of an insurance scheme orchestrated by their father. According to the release, he bought over $3 million worth of life and accidental death insurance policies on himself and his family from 8 different companies between July 2012 and July 2013.
According to the Justice Department, he started buying these insurance policies in the same year he exited a bankruptcy proceeding. Elmezayen paid more than $6,000/year on these policies.
Prosecutors found out that once he had bought these policies, Elmezayen called the insurance agencies frequently to make sure the policies were active and he would receive benefits if his ex-wife were to die in an accident. He even pretended to be his ex-wife when taking some of the policies out in her name, the release said.
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12 days after the two-year contestability period on the last of his insurance policies expired, he drove off the wharf, killing his children, the release tells us.
“Elmezayen then collected 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 taken out on the children’s lives,” the release said.
According to the release, Elmezayen used some of the money to buy real estate in Egypt and a boat.
“It is unthinkable that any father would jeopardize the lives of his family for his own financial gain,” said Ryan L. Korner, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation.
He was arrested in November of 2018 by FBI agents and has remained in federal custody since then, the release said.
The release also said that a part of his sentencing was having to pay $261,741 in restitution to the insurance companies that he defrauded.
