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The Los Angeles Department of Insurance recently conducted an Investigation into a company by the name of Bail Bonds Direct. The investigation led to 2 individuals being arrested and arraigned on a charge of felony negotiating bail without a license. The bail bondsmen being arraigned are Jimmy Mai (35), an unlicensed bondsman, and Jonathan Lahmani (42) who is licensed.
The County Department of Insurance opened their investigation into Bail Bonds Direct after an arrestee’s family came forward and reported a complaint about the company.
The investigation uncovered that Mai, was denied a bail license in 2017 by the Department. He was found to have solicited bail services from an arrestee’s family members. It is against the law to sell bail bonds and other forms of insurance without a license in the state of California.
Mai was told by the arrestee’s family that they had secured another agency for bond and would be moving forward with them. A representative for Bail Bonds Direct went ahead and posted the bond without the families consent. Mai then attempted to pressure the family and the arrestee to pay for the bond that Bail Bonds Direct posted for them.
Lahmani was working behind the scenes to try and get the signatures that were needed, prior to the bond being posted, to make the bond transaction look legitimate.
The arrestee rightfully refused to pay the bond, as their family had already secured a bond for them elsewhere, and Mai and Lahmani made an attempt to have the arrestee taken into custody for violating the conditions of their bond.
The Department of Insurance took legal action on Bail Bonds Direct, the owners Adi and Jennifer Roth, and licensed bail agent Jonathan Lahmani, for bail regulatory violations in March 2022.
Both accused bondsman have now had to post their own bonds of $30,000 each. The next court date is set for February 9, 2023.
The Department opened their investigation due to a complaint made about Bail Bonds Direct. The Department of Insurance encourages any consumer considering bail bond or other type of insurance to check the license status of the seller and to contact the Department’s hotline at (800)927-4357 if you have any concerns.
