Ex-Aviva worker faces money laundering, fraud charges

New details about the alleged embezzlement of an estimated $5.9 million from Aviva USA by Phyllis Stevens emerged Thursday with the filing of a federal criminal complaint.
Stevens, who was arrested Sept. 25 in Las Vegas, has been charged with money laundering and wire fraud.

The complaint alleges that an investigation by Aviva USA and federal officials shows a five-year effort by Stevens to siphon off commissions paid by the company to two fictitious independent agents.

The charges became public as Stevens remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service awaiting to be transported back to Iowa.

Kevin Kohler, a special agent for the FBI, disclosed the details, including how company officials discovered the embezzlement in an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.

The affidavit shows:

• Stevens' annual salary was about $40,000 as an Aviva compensation specialist.

• Aviva employee Alisha Wittstruck, who works in the company's Topeka, Kan., office, discovered a discrepancy that led to the company's investigation during a review of lapsed policies.

Wittstruck noted that a $62,112 commission had been paid on the recently lapsed policy and that "this commission was many times greater than the policy premium."

The commissions were paid to an account of an agent named Mark Peoples, a former Aviva employee, without his knowledge. Wittstruck could not be reached for comment Thursday.

• After an investigation, company officials discovered that $1.7 million in commissions apparently had been paid to Peoples in the past year - even though Peoples no longer worked for Aviva and had never received any commissions while employed there. Company officials discovered that the home address assigned to Peoples matched Stevens' home address in West Des Moines. Company officials have alleged in a civil lawsuit against Stevens that she had the checks directly deposited in an Indiana bank under an account in her name.

• Company officials placed Stevens on leave after confronting her with the situation and escorted her from Aviva's offices. Stevens then traveled to Indianapolis, where she attempted to obtain $170,000 in cash. She told an official at a branch of National City Bank that "she was trying to obtain as much cash and (as many) traveler's checks as possible because she and her partner were planning to travel to Germany."

• Stevens had difficulty trying to cash large checks. Of the $170,000 she sought, she obtained $16,400 in cash. She redeposited $123,000 with a check into her account at a branch bank in Brownsburg, Ind.

• Aviva officials said there were about 200 commission payments made to Stevens' accounts since 2004 totaling $5,987.830.37.

Source: DMR