The Toronto Police Service Fugitive Squad has arrested a U.S. man accused of perpetrating an international insurance fraud.

The suspect, Matthew Schachter, 60, and, his wife, Michale White, 49, were arrested in Mississauga where they were staying under assumed names. She was deported to the U.S. He is currently being held in Toronto pending an extradition proceeding, and for numerous charges in relation to fraud and money laundering.

Toronto police allege that Schachter was operating two fictitious insurance companies based out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, known as Tri Continental Insurance Exchange Ltd., and Combined Exchange Ltd. Police claim he sold millions of dollars worth of phony insurance policies through companies using the assumed name Robert Lewis Brown.

Toronto police say this major fraud has been perpetuated throughout the world, including Canada and the U.S. since the early 1990s. The suspect has been using many aliases over the years to avoid apprehension and was wanted by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service.

The charges have not been proven in court.

In 2000, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario issued a Cease and Desist Order against Tri-Continental and Brown. In 2001, it won a $75,000 fine against him in Ontario court for ignoring that order.

At the time, FSCO said the man known as Robert Brown was selling an invalid product through barter companies in Ontario. “Anyone owning or driving a car who has dealt with Tri Continental Exchange, Robert L. Brown, or anyone else like them, is in violation of the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act. By buying into this scam, these owners and drivers do not have valid automobile insurance in Ontario,” said Dina Palozzi, then Superintendent of Financial Services, in 2001. “I hope that this sends a very clear message to people like Mr. Brown. They are not licensed to sell insurance in Ontario and we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law so they cannot put the people of this province at risk.”