Miami man charged in ‘fraudulent insurance school’ probe now faces 19 more felonies

MIAMI – The felonies keep piling up for a Miami man accused of running a “fraudulent insurance school” near the airport.

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Rainier Miguel Salas, 59, was first arrested on several charges in late June after authorities said he was running an insurance school in Virginia Gardens with 820 “subverted” licensing exams. He’s now facing an additional 19 felonies, including counts of organized scheme to defraud, communications fraud and acting as an insurance agent without a license.

Salas’ son, Rainier Alexander Salas, 27, also of Miami, and former wife, Diana Nodarse Cruz, 36, of Miami Lakes, are also facing charges in the case.

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The elder Salas’ latest charges stem from what authorities said was his illegal use of his son’s insurance license.

An arrest report states that the investigation uncovered that Salas, an insurance fraud convict who wasn’t supposed to be acting as an agent, made multiple unauthorized changes to customers’ policies and collected illicit commissions.

In one instance, a pair of victims reported they had to pay an unexpected $900 copay after signing up for a plan that would have covered the cost, authorities said.

Bureau of Insurance Fraud investigators said they found that Salas, who they had never met, had changed their policy coverages and agent of record through the Affordable Care Act without their consent.

Salas had changed one of the victims’ agents of record on the policy twice, investigators said. Authorities said a co-defendant in the case, Yurisadairis Salazar Salazar, 36, of Miramar, had also changed the agent of record at one point.

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Salazar was arrested in early December along with fellow insurance agent Darwin Jose Ayala, 39, of Doral.

Also facing charges in the case is Jaroslav Verner, 32, of Alpharetta, Georgia. He was arrested in late September.

A woman once accused of participating in the scheme, Karla Lit Peralta, 26, of Miami Gardens, later had her charges dropped and became a cooperating witness, prosecutors said.

As of Tuesday, Salas was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $47,500 bond.