Ali F. Elmezayen, 45, drove a vehicle – with his wife and two sons in – from a port in Los Angeles to San Pedro Bay in April 2015. Elmezayen escaped from the submerged car through his open window. His ex-wife, Rabab Diab, couldn’t swim, but survived when a nearby fisherman threw her a life preserver.
The couple’s sons, 13-year-old Elhassan and 8-year-old Abdelkrim, drowned. Both children are said to have autism, the release said.
US District Judge John F. Walter called Elmezayen’s plan “evil and devilish.”
“The only regret the defendant has is that he was caught,” Walter said.
Prosecutors found that the deaths of the children were part of Elmezayen’s comprehensive insurance plan. He purchased more than $ 3 million in life and term life insurance for himself and his family from eight different companies between July 2012 and July 2013, the release said.
The Justice Department says Elmezayen started buying these policies the same year he came out of bankruptcy. He paid more than $ 6,000 a year for these policies.
Prosecutors found that after purchasing the policies, Elmezayen repeatedly called insurance companies to verify that the policies were active and that they would pay benefits if his ex-wife was killed in an accident. Elmezayen sometimes even pretended to be his ex-wife because he had a number of policies in her name, the release said.
Elmezayen drove off the dock in the Port of Los Angeles 12 days after the two-year disputes period of the last of his insurance policies expired, the release said.
“Elmezayen then collected more than $ 260,000 in insurance revenues from Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance and American General Life Insurance for the term life insurance policies he had taken out for the lives of the children,” the statement said.
He used some of the money to buy real estate in Egypt and a boat, the release said.
“It is inconceivable that a father would endanger his family’s life for his own financial gain,” said Ryan L. Korner, special agent for the IRS Criminal Investigation.
According to the release, FBI agents arrested Elmezayen in November 2018. He has been in federal custody since his arrest.
As part of his sentencing, Elmezayen has also had to pay $ 261,751 in refunds to the insurance companies he defrauded, the release said.