Insurers Accused Of Racketeering, Using Falsified Sandy Reports

A Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) unit was accused by a lawyer representing Hurricane Sandy victims of using a falsified damage report to dodge paying homeowner claims, the second insurer blamed in the last month for such a practice. The accusation came in a case before a federal magistrate judge in Central Islip, New York, who said earlier the practice “may be widespread.”About 1,000 cases of homeowners and other policyholders are pending in the federal court district that includes Central Islip and Brooklyn.