Overview
- The Queens District Attorney and New York officials announced Thursday that Jaime Huiracocha and Victor Murillo pleaded guilty and were sentenced for running staged crashes to file false insurance claims.
- Prosecutors say the pair recruited passengers to feign injury and staged at least three collisions on New York highways between August and October 2024, with Murillo acting as the driver who intentionally caused the impacts and Huiracocha coordinating from a trailing car.
- The investigation began after a viral dashcam video posted by Ashpia Natasha showed one staged Belt Parkway crash and led prosecutors to link two other incidents captured on dash cameras.
- Murillo received a two-year prison term while Huiracocha was sentenced to a term reported as between one to three years in some accounts and one to two years in another, and two additional participants have pleaded guilty and face September 2026 sentencing.
- State officials cited rising suspicious auto-insurance reports and said the case justified rebuilding the insurance fraud bureau, creating a cross-agency task force and other budgeted reforms meant to curb staged collisions and lower costs for drivers.