Article - June 10, 2008 - Philadelphia Daily News

Lawyer gets 2 months for insurance fraud
FBI sting targeted phony personal-injury claims

By Michael Hinkelman

A Center City personal-injury lawyer was sentenced to two months in prison yesterday for obtaining an insurance settlement on behalf of two undercover FBI agents posing as injured patients. U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe also sentenced Jordan B. Luber, 42, of Bala Cynwyd, to one year of supervised release after his prison stint - the first three months to be served as house arrest - and 100 hours of community service.

Defense lawyer Judson Aaron had argued for a sentence of probation, noting that Luber's conduct was an "aberration" and that Luber was "not out there trolling for phony claims."

Luber, who pleaded guilty to mail and health-care fraud last June, represented two women he thought were cleaning ladies but who were really FBI undercover agents.

"I'm not a dirty lawyer," Luber told Rufe prior to sentencing, adding, "I made a terrible mistake and I beat myself up over it every day."

He said he'd already surrendered his license to practice law. Rufe said that Luber, as a lawyer, was an officer of the court and therefore had a higher obligation to obey the law. "You're not an ordinary criminal and you need to be judged on that basis," she said.

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