NEWARK, N.J. — A woman accused of defrauding almost 50 people in a moving company fraud scheme has been ordered to pay more than $150,000 in restitution to her victims.
On Dec. 14, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ordered Lola Larios, 37, of Haledon, New Jersey, to pay $152,181 to 49 victims of the moving company fraud scheme for which she was sentenced to 3 years of probation, including 1 year of home detention, and a $100 special assessment, a news release stated.
She was also ordered to forfeit $282,634 to the United States.
According to the court, Larios, an employee of multiple New Jersey-based moving companies, conspired from January 2016 to January 2019 with the companies’ owner, Lior Atiyas 42, of Hewlett, New York, to extort customers by quoting low-ball estimates for moving household goods.
Once the items were loaded onto the moving trucks, she and others directed company employees to raise the price of the move and refuse to deliver the items until the customers paid the increased price.
Atiyas devised the scheme to enrich himself and his moving company. He used several names to conceal his company’s true identity, including Premier Relocations LLC, Metro Van Lines, Inc., and others.
He also admitted to participating in a scheme to defraud Medicaid by generating false paystubs and employment documents to obtain Medicaid benefits for an uncharged conspirator.
Atiyas, also known as David Cohen, pleaded guilty by videoconference Nov. 20, 2020, before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
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