What to Know
- Ali Elmezayen faces homicide costs stemming from the deaths of his two severely autistic sons, ages 13 and eight, together with the tried homicide of ex-wife.
- He was convicted n October 2019 of greater than a dozen federal costs together with mail and wire fraud, aggravated id theft and cash laundering.
- Prosecutors stated he had been planning the scheme for 2 years and purchased $7 million in life and unintentional demise insurance coverage protection on his household with eight completely different firms.
A South Bay man was sentenced Thursday to 212 years in federal jail for defrauding insurance coverage firms after driving his two youngsters and ex-wife off a pier on the Port of Los Angeles to gather on unintentional demise insurance policies, a scheme the choose referred to as “evil and diabolical.”
Ali Elmezayen was convicted in October 2019 of greater than a dozen federal costs together with mail and wire fraud, aggravated id theft and cash laundering. Federal prosecutors lacked jurisdiction for federal homicide costs.
A boy died and his brother was in vital situation after the household automotive plunged into the ocean on the LA Port. Jane Yamamoto reviews for the NBC4 Information at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 10, 2015.
Nonetheless, the Hawthorne man faces murder charges in Los Angeles Superior Court docket stemming from the deaths of his two severely autistic sons, 13-year-old Elhassan and 8-year-old Abdelkarim, together with the tried homicide of ex-wife Rehab Diab, who managed to flee from the submerged automotive regardless of not understanding the way to swim.
“He murdered his two autistic youngsters, letting two harmless younger boys die an awfully painful demise whereas strapped of their (automotive) seats,” U.S. District Choose John F. Walter advised the court docket. “It is undisputed that demise by drowning is a painful solution to die. I can solely think about the horror they will need to have skilled as they struggled to get out of their seats … as their lungs stuffed up with water.”
On April 9, 2015, Elmezayen drove the automotive containing Diab and their two sons off the wharf and escaped by shortly swimming out the open driver’s facet window, proof confirmed. Diab survived when a fisherman threw her a flotation gadget and pulled her towards a ladder, however the two youngsters, strapped into automotive seats, drowned.
Elmezayen — a local of Egypt with no authorized standing in america — had been planning the scheme for 2 years, in accordance with proof offered in the course of the trial. Throughout 2012 and 2013, he acquired $7 million in life and unintentional demise insurance coverage protection on his household with eight completely different firms. After the deaths, he collected practically $262,000 in insurance coverage proceeds, stated Walter, who ordered restitution in that quantity to be paid to 2 insurance coverage firms.
Throughout his trial in Los Angeles federal court docket, prosecutors stated Elmezayen, 46, was an abusive husband beset by cash issues.
“He lined the automotive as much as the one spot that wasn’t blocked and hit the fuel, the youngsters buckled inside,” Assistant U.S. Lawyer David T. Ryan advised the jury. “The plan was to kill them and make it seem like an accident.”
After the deaths, Elmezayen filed a lawsuit in opposition to the town of Los Angeles “the place he tried to gather extra money from the deaths by blaming the town for the lack of his youngsters,” the choose stated, calling the defendant a “grasping and brutal killer.”
The defendant didn’t take the stand throughout his trial in downtown Los Angeles, and declined to handle the court docket at his sentencing listening to Thursday.
A 3rd son, Elhussein Diab — who was away at camp when the deaths befell — spoke on the listening to, saying his father had handled the graves of his late brothers “as a checking account.”
The District Lawyer’s Workplace initially declined to file homicide costs, concluding that the proof was inadequate to point out the crash was intentional. However regardless of missing jurisdiction for federal homicide costs, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace in Los Angeles, working with the FBI, established that Elmezayen crafted his scheme with the intent to defraud life insurance coverage firms.
After federal prosecutors shared new proof, state authorities took a second have a look at the case and subsequently filed homicide costs in opposition to Elmazayen. It was not instantly identified when or if the state case will proceed.
