The owner of a company that overcharged insurance companies hundreds of thousands of dollars for repair of disaster-damaged properties was sentenced Wednesday to 50 months in prison.
U.S. District Chief Judge Marcia Krieger also ordered Michael Griggs to pay a fine of $500,000.
Griggs, 58, owned Disaster Restoration Inc., which used subcontractors to work on damaged properties. He told subcontractors to submit two bids, one lower than the other.
DRI paid subcontractors the lower of the two and submitted the higher to insurers.
He must also pay part of $477,600 in restitution. Others involved in the scheme will also pay a portion of the restitution.
A jury found Griggs and the company’s chief operating officer, Charles Homer Sharp, 52, guilty of conspiracy and mail fraud last August.
to three years in prison. Four other employees received probation.
“This case is about greed. … The only people it benefitted were the people at DRI,” Krieger said.
Krieger said a presentence investigation found that Griggs tried to hide $3.6 million in assets from the court to avoid paying any fines or restitution.
