Barnes & Thornburg Secures Dismissal of Federal RICO and Fraud Claims Against Doctor in Columbus Life Litigation

Barnes & Thornburg LLP and Zumpano Patricios represented Dr. Jenny Cheng in litigation brought by Columbus Life Insurance Co. Columbus Life filed suit in July 2025 alleging that producer JC Marketing Partners, its directors and affiliated insurance producers and certain doctors formed an illegal enterprise to generate commissions and defraud the insurer into issuing roughly 250 policies worth over $160 million. The insurer alleged JC Marketing targeted low-income Chinese nationals between the ages of 50 and 75 who had recently immigrated to the United States. Barnes & Thornburg and Zumpano Patricios moved to dismiss the claims against Dr. Cheng in September 2025. In an order dated June 16, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the motion to dismiss Columbus Life’s claims for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, conspiracy to violate RICO, fraud, tortious interference and unjust enrichment as to Dr. Cheng. The court allowed a single state-law claim under the state’s Insurance Fraud Protection Act to proceed after finding it had jurisdiction over that claim. The court extended its ruling to another doctor who filed a motion to dismiss, effectively adopting the arguments advanced on Dr. Cheng’s behalf. The court agreed with Barnes & Thornburg’s position that Columbus Life failed to meet the required standard for alleging mail and wire fraud to support a RICO pattern, and that Columbus Life did not show the doctors knew of any scheme or that the medical records were actually falsified. The opinion stated, “It is insufficient to allege misrepresentations were made to Columbus Life without specifying the nature or subject of the alleged fraud.” The court also found Columbus Life failed to plead unjust enrichment because it did not show the doctors received any payments from the commissions offered to JC Marketing. Barnes & Thornburg represented Dr. Jenny Cheng with a team composed by: partners Scott Hulsey and Michael C. Zogby, and associates Farwa Tahir and Rachel Forman. Zumpano Patricios represented Dr. Jenny Cheng with a team led by Mark Fang.

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Barnes & Thornburg Secures Dismissal of Federal RICO and Fraud Claims Against Doctor in Columbus Life Litigation

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Barnes & Thornburg Secures Dismissal of Federal RICO and Fraud Claims Against Doctor in Columbus Life Litigation

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