A man who authorities say acted as a public insurance adjuster and defrauded policyholders in Broward County out of almost $35,000 is facing charges–again.
Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez, 38, is charged with two counts of acting as a public adjuster in the third degree after he allegedly represented himself as a licensed adjuster and "unlawfully withheld" the settlement checks due to clients.
“Gonzalez represented himself as a licensed public adjuster to assist the policyholders with insurance claims related to home damage in 2022, in return for a 20% adjusting fee of the insurance settlements,” the office of CFO Jimmy Patronis announced in a release on Friday.
Gonzalez received $44,903 in settlement checks, but then failed to give one of the policyholders in Davie the $18,000 they were due, officials say. To the second policyholder, a homeowner in Pembroke Pines, he allegedly wrote a check for $16,424, which was returned for insufficient funds.
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Investigators said Gonzalez’s public adjuster license was suspended in 2013 “for failing to maintain a surety bond.”
Now, he faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
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"When unlicensed public adjusters take advantage of the system, every policyholder in the state loses. Insurance fraud drives up rates and devalues the professionalism of honest public adjusters and insurance agents. As Florida’s insurance market begins to improve little-by-little, we will continue to assure companies and policyholders that fraud will not be tolerated in our state," Patronis said in the news release.
This is not the first time Gonzalez finds himself in trouble with the Florida Department of Financial Services.
He was arrested in 2023 in Miami-Dade County “for a similar act,” officials say.
“In that case, Giorgio Giovanni Gonzalez was charged with one count of acting as a public adjuster and one count of grand theft,” officials said.
