Former Carmel insurance firm employee charged with embezzling $2.1M

A former employee of Carmel-based Seven Corners Inc. has been indicted on one charge of wire fraud for what prosecutors describe as a multi-year scheme that embezzled $2.1 million from the travel insurance company.

Lisa Ann Raines of Anderson was indicted Jan. 7. Court documents do not provide Raines’ age.

According to the criminal complaint submitted by the FBI in December, Raines began working for Seven Corners as a senior finance technician beginning in March 2006 and was terminated for performance issues in November 2016.

Also in March 2006, Raines opened a bank account in the name of L&B Tape Co., whose business address was the same as Raines’ Anderson home, the complaint says.

Raines added L&B Tape as a fake vendor in Seven Corners’ payment system, the complaint says, and between July 2009 and 2016 made 65 payments into the L&B Tape account from a Seven Corners account.

In May 2012, Raines purchased a home in Anderson for $605,000. She purchased Mardi Gras Too, a restaurant/bar in Lapel, in November 2015, the complaint says.

When federal agents interviewed Raines in October 2019, “Raines admitted that the money she took from Seven Corners went towards the purchase of her current residence,” the complaint says.

According to the complaint, Seven Corners discovered the scheme when another employee saw a report listing the payments to L&B Tape—a vendor she did not recognize. The complaint does not indicate when the company first learned of the matter.

Seven Corners officials told IBJ on Friday that the firm has been cooperating with federal authorities and was notified Jan. 9 that Raines had been indicted.

“The integrity of our business is of utmost importance and we take these actions very seriously,” a written statement from the company said. “Internal procedures and controls have been and are in place to detect and remediate any such actions by employees.”

Seven Corners officials declined to make specific comment on the allegations against Raines.

Raines is being held in federal custody until her trial, which is scheduled to begin March 23.

Prosecutors asked for Raines to be detained because, after learning of the criminal investigation, Raines “actively attempted to evade law enforcement” and liquidated “thousands of dollars in assets obtained through the alleged fraud scheme,” a court document said.

Raines is represented by federal public defender Bill Dazey. Dazey declined to comment on the case, telling IBJ in an email that “this case presents a complex set of circumstances, best commented upon when it has run its course.”

Seven Corners offers international travel insurance and benefits management to individuals, U.S. and foreign government agencies, corporations and insurance companies. The privately held company was founded in 1993 by Jim Krampen and Justin Tysdal. By 2016, Seven Corners had grown to 215 employees and $77 million in revenues.

Asked for updated information on Friday, Seven Corners declined to update its annual revenue but confirmed that it still had 215 employees.