A California man was sentenced to more than two centuries in prison Thursday for following his partner and two autistic children from a dock in the port of Los Angeles and killing their children to raise money for life insurance.
NBC News reports that Ali F. Elmezayen, 45, was sentenced to the maximum penalty for wire fraud, mail fraud, identity theft and money laundering to kill his family for millions of dollars in insurance. US District Judge John F. Walter called it a “diabolical and evil” tactic during Thursday’s sentencing.
“He is the ultimate phony and a skillful liar…and is nothing more than a greedy and brutal killer,” Walter said. “The only regret that the defendant has is that he got caught.”
Elmezeyan bought more than $ 3 million worth of life and casualty insurance for himself and his family between 2012 and 2013, around the same time he was finishing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
NBC reports that prosecutors recorded phone calls during the trial in which Elmezeyan asked to confirm that the policies were active, that they would be paid in the event of an accidental death, and that the companies would not investigate claims two years after the policies were purchased.
Less than two weeks into those two years, Elmezeyan was pulling his family out of a loading dock in the Port of Los Angeles. Elmezayen’s two severely autistic children, Elhassan, 13, and Abdelkrim, 8, drowned after being trapped in the car.