JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The wife of a Florida businessman who authorities say faked his own death to defraud insurance companies is expected to be arraigned on charge of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
Last month federal prosecutors accused 58-year-old Daphne Simpson of working with husband Jose Lantigua to make the story of his 2013 death believable and to file life insurance claims.
The Florida Times-Union (http://bit.ly/2ascCeB ) reports Simpson was charged under a system commonly used when defendants agree in advance to plead guilty to a specific charge. She was released from jail after state charges were dropped and told to return to court Wednesday to face the new federal charge.
Lantigua was falsely reported dead in Venezuela and arrested in 2015 after getting caught in North Carolina applying for a passport in another man’s name.