A husband and wife from New Bedford pleaded guilty in federal court on March 25 after admitting to a scheme that defrauded clients seeking insurance through their firm, BL Insurance Brokerage.
Brendan Lawler, 58, and Lisa Lawler, 46, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun set sentencing for July 22.
Federal authorities first charged the pair by criminal complaint in August 2025.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Lawlers defrauded at least 50 clients or insurance providers and stole more than $750,000 from insurance carriers, premium finance companies, and hard money lenders.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the defendant’s gain or the victim’s loss.
Final sentencing will be determined by a federal district court judge under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the statutes governing criminal penalties.
Prosecutors said the couple collected insurance payments through BL Insurance from March 2023 through March 2024.
Those funds should have gone to clients’ insurance providers. Instead, according to the DOJ, the Lawlers kept the money and used it for their own purposes.
To hide the theft and keep BL Insurance operating, prosecutors said the pair used incoming payments from newer clients to cover overdue balances owed to other clients’ insurers. Same pattern, over and over.
The DOJ also said the Lawlers created and distributed insurance documents that falsely indicated clients had active coverage.
According to Beinsure analysts, cases like this hit at a basic trust point in the brokerage model, premium handling, proof of coverage, and the assumption that client funds move where they’re supposed to go. When that breaks, everything around it gets ugly fast.
According to the Secretary of State’s corporate database, BL Insurance Brokerage LLC moved its office from 4417 Acushnet Ave. in New Bedford to 270 Huttleston Ave. in Fairhaven in 2023.
The Mass. Division of Insurance revoked BL Insurance Brokerage’s license in March 2024, following an investigation by the Division’s Special Investigations Unit that found grounds for revocation, according to a settlement agreement. The company agreed to immediately cease and desist from selling insurance.
