SAPPHIRE, N.C. — A Florida businessman who authorities say faked his own death to reap millions in life insurance benefits is sitting in a North Carolina jail after applying for a passport under another man's name.
Jose Salvador Lantigua of Jacksonville, Florida, appeared Monday in federal court in Asheville, North Carolina. He was arrested Saturday by diplomatic security agents from the U.S. State Department and charged with a single count of making a false statement on a passport application.
The 62-year-old Lantigua also faces eight criminal fraud charges in Florida, where state prosecutors say he used a false Venezuelan death certificate to file more than $9 million in life insurance claims in 2013.
Lantigua was nabbed after allegedly filing a passport application using the name of an ex-postal worker from New York.