After having his supposed ashes interred seven years ago in a Minneapolis mausoleum, a Twin Cities man living under a false name in Eastern Europe is charged in connection with a family scheme to cheat an insurance company out of $2 million by faking his death.
Igor Vorotinov, 54, appeared in federal court Monday in Minneapolis after being indicted in February 2015 on one count of mail fraud. Authorities captured Vorotinov in Moldova on Nov. 14, where he was turned over to FBI agents from Minneapolis, said FBI spokesman Michael Kulstad. Vorotinov was then extradited to the United States three days later, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
His ex-wife, Irina Vorotinov, 51, was sentenced two years ago to three years and one month in prison for her role in the scheme that included having someone's ashes other than those of Igor Vorotinov interred at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.
The couple's son, Alkon Vorotinov, 29, of New Hope, pleaded guilty to concealing a felony and was sentenced shortly before his mother to three years' probation and 300 hours of community service.
As part of the federal investigation, ashes that had been interred in late 2011 at a Lakewood mausoleum as Igor Vorotinov's were removed for examination in June 2015. Authorities determined they were not Igor's.
Mother and son are under court order to pay back Mutual of Omaha, which made good on the claim.
The first hint of Igor Vorotinov's staged death came in October 2011, when police in Moldova were alerted to a body in the bushes at the entrance to the village of Cojusna. A passport, hotel cards and phone numbers identified the man as Igor Vorotinov.
Irina Vorotinov traveled to Moldova, went to a morgue with a U.S. Embassy official and identified the body as Igor's. She returned to Minnesota with the ashes, held a funeral at the mausoleum on Nov. 4, 2011, and filed a death claim on the insurance policy. Kulstad said the agency does not know whose remains were interred.
