A Hawthorne man accused of intentionally driving his domestic partner and two autistic children off a pier at the Port of Los Angeles to collect on life insurance policies he had purchased is expected to plead not guilty Thursday to multiple federal charges.
Ali F. Elmezayen, 44, faces nearly two-dozen federal counts, including mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. If convicted of all charges, he could spend the rest of his life in prison, prosecutors said.
Elmezayen — a native of Egypt with no legal status in the United States — purchased several accidental death insurance policies providing more than $6 million in coverage on himself, his then-domestic partner and his three children in 2012 and 2013, federal prosecutors contend.
He allegedly paid nearly $6,000 a year for the policies — even though he was earning less than $30,000 a year — and he called at least two of the insurance companies to confirm they would not investigate claims made two years after the policies were purchased.
On April 9, 2015 — two years and 12 days after he bought the last of his insurance policies — Elmezayen allegedly drove a car with his partner and two youngest children off a wharf at the Port of Los Angeles, according to prosecutors. He allegedly swam out the open driver’s side window of the car. His partner, who did not know how to swim, survived when a nearby fisherman threw her a flotation device, prosecutors said.
The two children, ages 8 and 13, were unable to escape the car and drowned, authorities said.
Elmezayen then collected more than $260,000 in insurance proceeds from American General Life Insurance and Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance on the accidental death insurance policies he had taken out on the children’s lives, according to prosecutors.
Elmezayen’s court-appointed defense attorney, Cuauhtemoc Ortega, said he would contest the charges.
The murder allegations against Elmezayen did not fall under federal jurisdiction. But the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the case and declined to file charges against Elmezayen, citing a lack of evidence proving he intentionally drove off the dock.
A Los Angeles police mechanic told prosecutors that the brakes on the car appeared to be malfunctioning after it was pulled from the water. It wasn’t evident whether the problem occurred before the crash or was a result of salt water damage, according to the district attorney’s charge evaluation document.