For years, Florida fraudsters ran wild – stealing from insurance programs, ripping off fire victims, and draining public assistance meant for the poor.
Now there’s a new CFO in Tallahassee, and he brought a warrant.
Blaise Ingoglia just marked his first year as Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, and he didn’t show up with a press release about policy goals – he showed up with a scoreboard – 1,219 arrests and $38 million ripped back from thieves.
What One Year of Enforcement Actually Looks Like
This isn’t one big headline-grabbing bust.
It’s 1,219 individual cases – built one by one, arrest by arrest, by investigators who showed up every day and did the work.
The Bureau of Insurance Fraud alone put 634 people in handcuffs.
The Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives added 344 more.
The Bureau of Public Assistance Fraud – the unit chasing the people stealing food assistance money meant for struggling families – referred 322 cases totaling $8 million for criminal prosecution.
That’s what an office looks like when someone is actually running it.
In 2021, the old DFS received more than 1,700 tips on suspected insurance fraud and produced 14 convictions.
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2082534173953175945?s=20
Fourteen.
Those aren’t the same people.
That’s not the same office.
Democrats Built the Fraud Machine. Republicans Are Dismantling It.
Florida didn’t stumble into becoming a fraudster’s paradise.
Democrats fought every reform that could have stopped it.
For years, trial lawyers and shady contractors hijacked Florida homeowners’ insurance claims through an assignment-of-benefits loophole – billing your insurer into insolvency while you stood by and watched.
Florida was filing 9 percent of the nation’s homeowners insurance claims while generating nearly 80 percent of its lawsuits.
When Republicans finally moved to kill the scam in December 2022, the House voted 84-33 to pass the reform – with Democrats opposed.
State Senator Gary Farmer, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, stood up during the debate and declared there was no crisis at all.
Try telling that to the six insurance companies that went insolvent that same year.
Try telling it to ordinary Florida homeowners paying $4,231 a year for coverage – nearly triple the national average – while fraud alone was driving an estimated $675 million in extra costs into the market annually.
The fraud machine ran wide open because Democrats protected it.
DeSantis, Republicans in the Legislature, and now Ingoglia are the ones cleaning up the mess.
Sheriffs Know the Difference a Partner Makes
The metric that gets overlooked in every press release is the law enforcement partnership piece.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd – a man who does not hand out compliments to politicians – said Florida has become the most pro-law enforcement state in the country specifically because of leaders like Ingoglia.
That’s Grady Judd.
https://twitter.com/ConservRecord/status/2082813566436905188?s=20
Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz credited the state support directly for strengthening her department’s ability to protect the community.
Putnam County Sheriff Homer “Gator” DeLoach called it straight: “Thank you for always having our backs.”
When Grady Judd is praising your partnership, every sheriff in Florida is paying attention.
Ingoglia has been deliberate about building those relationships – and DFS investigators have shown up alongside local agencies on immigration enforcement operations as well, broadening the partnership beyond financial crimes into everything threatening Florida families.
The fraudster who thought Florida was soft found out differently.
Ingoglia put it plainly: “I will not let fraudsters get away with their schemes in Florida. Our work will continue and will keep our foot on the gas and let every fraudster know, we are coming for you.”
The reforms are working – homeowners premiums have dropped from that $4,231 peak to approximately $3,815 statewide, with 73 private carriers filing for rate reductions for the first time in years.
That’s what it looks like when Republicans win and make it stick.
Sources:
- Frank Kopylov, “CFO Ingoglia marks one year with more than 1,200 fraud arrests,” Florida Voice News, July 29, 2026.
- “Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia Highlights 1 Year of Fighting Fraud and Supporting Law Enforcement,” Florida Department of Financial Services, July 28, 2026.
- “Florida CFO Wants More Insurance Fraud Investigators, Education Campaign,” Insurance Journal, May 16, 2022.
- “Legislature passes property insurance package,” The Florida Bar, December 16, 2022.
- “Florida Premiums Drop Amid Post-Reform Stability, New Triple-I Insurance Brief Shows,” Insurance Information Institute, April 1, 2026.
- “1,200 Behind Bars: Florida CFO Marks One Year Fraud Crackdown With $38M Saved,” Tampa Free Press, July 29, 2026.
