Norwalk Operator Of Prize Insurance Business Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud Charge: Feds

NORWALK, CT — A Norwalk man who operated a prize insurance business pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge in federal court Tuesday, David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced in a news release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Kevin Kolenda, 69, of Norwalk, owned and operated Hole-in-Won LLC, Compliance HIW LLC, Hole-in-Won Worldwide and Hole-in-Won.com, which together provided prize insurance to customers who offered promotions or prizes at events such as golf tournaments and fishing contests.

According to Sullivan, Hole-in-Won claimed through its website and other promotional materials to be "the most successful prize insurance company in the world" and to have "paid out 1000's of awards" to winners throughout the world.

"The investigation revealed that, in reality, Kolenda had for years defrauded dozens of organizations and individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars," Sullivan said in a news release.

As part of the scheme, clients, who were often charitable or civic organizations, obtained insurance from Kolenda and Hole-in-Won for one or more prizes at an event, Sullivan said.

As an example, Sullivan said the host of a golf tournament might include a lucrative prize, such as a new car, for any player who hits a hole in one on a specific hole.

The client would complete an insurance contract and pay the insurance premium to Kolenda and Hole-in-Won, and Kolenda and Hole-in-Won would promise to pay out the insurance claim for the cost of the insured prize if there was a winner at the event, according to Sullivan.

If no one won the insured prize at the event, Kolenda and Hole-in-Won would keep the premium, Sullivan said.

If someone won the insured prize, Kolenda used various fraudulent techniques to avoid payment of the claim, according to Sullivan.

Sullivan said Kolenda often used various aliases to hide his involvement in the scheme and referred clients to the Hole-in-Won "claims department" at an office in Washington, D.C., which did not exist.

He also made frequent excuses to clients as to why Hole in-Won was delayed in paying out the claim and threatened them with bogus legal action and reputational harm if they continued to seek payment of the claim, according to Sullivan.

Sullivan said Kolenda would ultimately stop responding to correspondence from clients and refused to pay out the cost of the insured prizes.

The hosts or organizations, or their partners, often paid for the cost of the insured prizes themselves in order to avoid reputational harm and potential legal action, Sullivan said.

According to Sullivan, neither Kolenda nor his entities were licensed to sell insurance products, and insurance departments in a number of states "issued cease and desist orders in an effort to stop his illegal sales, warnings that Kolenda ignored."

Kolenda was convicted of first-degree larceny and attempt to commit third-degree larceny in Connecticut in 2011 and ordered to pay restitution and serve a three-year term of probation, according to Sullivan.

He was convicted of one count of acting as an insurance producer without a license in Montana in 2013 and fined $10,000, according to Sullivan.

In 2014, he was convicted of two counts of engaging in an unauthorized insurance transaction and one count of first-degree theft in Washington and sentenced to 90 days in prison, and was again convicted in Washington in 2016 of attempted first-degree theft and attempted engaging in an unauthorized insurance transaction and sentenced to 15 months in prison, according to Sullivan.

Kolenda was arrested on April 5, 2024, Sullivan said.

While released on bond pending trial, he violated the conditions of his release by continuing to sell prize insurance without an appropriate license and his bond was revoked, according to Sullivan.

He has been detained since March 6, Sullivan said.

Kolenda pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years, and is scheduled to be sentenced in December, according to Sullivan.