The controversial owner of several San Francisco towing companies has been charged with new insurance fraud by federal prosecutors, three weeks after a similar case and several other criminal charges were filed against him.
In a statement Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said towing contractor Jose Vicente Badillo — as well as co-defendants Kirill Afanasyev, Jason Naraja and Jaime Respicio — were charged in an indictment with various crimes related to two fraud schemes against auto insurance companies.
According to an Aug. 20 federal grand jury indictment, San Francisco residents Afanasyev and Badillo, as well as Pleasant Hill resident Respicio, conspired to defraud an auto insurance company by filing a fake insurance claim for a salvaged car Afanasyev purchased in May 2019. When Afanasyev purchased the car, it was allegedly undrivable due to severe front-end damage.
According to the indictment, Respicio obtained an insurance policy and acquired ownership of the car before Afanasyev, posing as Respicio, falsely reported to the insurance company in August 2019 that Respicio had been involved in a car accident with the car in San Francisco.
Afanasyev allegedly made false statements and made false claims to the insurance company, which then sent Respicio an insurance reimbursement check for $47,856.34. According to federal prosecutors, Badillo agreed to falsely document that his towing company had towed the wrecked car from the alleged accident scene. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, this was their first insurance fraud case.
Federal prosecutors say Afanasyev, Badillo and Hayward resident Naraja subsequently engaged in a second conspiracy and scheme to defraud another insurance company by filing a bogus insurance claim related to a multi-vehicle accident that Badillo allegedly staged in San Mateo County.
Badillo and Afanasyev are alleged to have planned the staged accident in which the towing company operator loaded a car transporter with four vehicles – most of which were no longer drivable or already had damage – and intentionally drove them off the road on the Guadalupe Canyon Parkway in San Mateo County in August 2019.
According to federal prosecutors, Badillo reported the accident to his insurance company and, along with Afanasyev, Naraja and another individual, made false or misleading statements to an insurance company representative. The insurance company dismissed Badillo's claim as a fraud but paid one of its towing companies $5,210 to recover, tow and store the vehicles involved in the staged accident.
According to authorities, at the time of the alleged crimes in 2019, Badillo owned or controlled at least two companies involved in the towing business: Jose's Towing LLC and Auto Towing LLC, both of which operated out of San Francisco.
In the first count of conspiracy and attempted fraud, Afanasyev, Badillo and Respicio are each charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail and wire fraud. Afanasyev and Respicio are also charged with money laundering.
In the second, similar case, Afanasyev, Badillo and Naraja are each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud.
Naraja and Respicio were arrested Tuesday in Hayward and Pleasant Hill, respectively, and were released on $50,000 bail at their initial appearance Wednesday. Prosecutors said Naraja is scheduled to appear in court at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, while Respicio will also appear in court on Sept. 5 for arraignment and to identify his attorney.
Badillo, who had previously been arrested and appeared in court for the first time in another fraud case on August 8, the arraignment and appointment of counsel in both cases is scheduled for Friday at 10:30 a.m.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said that if convicted, Afanasyev, Badillo and Respicio each face a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross profit or loss (whichever is greater), plus compensatory damages if appropriate, for counts 1 through 3, which allege mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit such fraud.
Afanasyev and Respicio face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or twice the amount of criminal property associated with the transaction (whichever is greater), and may be required to pay restitution on the fourth count, money laundering.
Afanasyev, Badillo and Naraja each face a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross profit or loss (whichever is greater), plus compensatory damages, if appropriate, for each of counts 5 through 9, which allege wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Last August, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu initiated debarment proceedings against Auto Towing, and in February they were officially banned from bidding on or accepting city contracts. In June, Chiu announced the ban on accepting city contracts. would remain in place for the next five years.
Badillo also co-owned another San Francisco towing company, Specialty Towing and Recovery, between 2018 and 2023. All of his towing businesses reportedly generated over $2 million in gross annual revenue.
Chiu's office said Badillo was disbarred for illegally towing vulnerable people's cars from a private commercial parking lot, limiting vehicle pickup times and pressuring vehicle owners to pay in cash.
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office had already charged him with involvement in a fraud scheme. Last October, Chiu's office charged Badillo and his partner, Abigail Fuentes, with several crimes stemming from an alleged welfare fraud scheme.
Chiu said Fuentes and Badillo lied about their substantial income and assets to receive public benefits they were not entitled to. Both suspects received Medi-Cal benefits, and Fuentes received additional benefits from CalFresh and CalWORKS, prosecutors said.
