Bucks County GOP rainmaker Claire Risoldi has died -- never serving jail term for fraud

Less than a year ago, Claire Risoldi, the unapologetic, irreverent Bucks County GOP political influencer and twice-convicted felon avoided her 2019 jail sentence for a third time.

It would be the last time the criminal justice system got the chance to put her behind bars again.

On July 14, Risoldi died, her criminal defense attorney Michael Diamonstein confirmed Thursday.  He provided no other information about the death. She was 76.

Claire Risoldi's last court appearance: Bucks County socialite Claire Risoldi ordered to jail — again. Why she's still free in $13M fraud case

Neither of Risoldi’s two children, Carl and Carla Risoldi, responded to emails sent Thursday seeking comment about their mother.

Bucks County Republican Party Chair Pat Poprik did not respond to a message Friday seeking comment. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, which successfully prosecuted Risoldi for her role in a multimillion dollar insurance scheme, declined comment Friday.

No obituary for the Buckingham matriarch could be found online. The only public notice of Risoldi’s death is an application Diamonstein filed with the Pennsylvania Superior Court on Thursday to withdraw her latest, and last, appeal.

A Pennsylvania Superior Court panel was appointed July 25 to hear the case, but a hearing date had not been assigned, according to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

Risoldi died without serving one day of the 11-1/2 to 23-month jail sentence she was ordered to serve in 2019.

Her death brings an end to the criminal case that started eight years ago when the AG’s office, acting on a grand jury recommendation, filed insurance fraud and related charges against Risoldi, four members of her family and two associates, alleging they filed false claims totaling $20 million.

The charges stemmed from claims following a 2013 fire of undetermined origin that heavily damaged the family home on their 10-acre estate named “Clairemont” for the third time in four years.

"Excessively extravagant lifestyle" sparks criminal investigation

The case gained international notoriety after authorities alleged the family illegally collected insurance money and used it to fund an “excessively extravagant lifestyle” that included Ferraris and Rolls Royces, multiple properties, $2 million window treatments, a personal photographer and a hand-painted ceiling mural that featured Risoldi family members in classic Roman period costumes gazing down from the heavens.

The family faced public backlash after Risoldi falsely accused volunteer firefighters of stealing jewelry allegedly valued at $10 million while fighting the 2013 fire. The insurer never paid out on the jewelry claim.

The Risoldis maintained the criminal investigation and charges were politically motivated. The family members were GOP rainmakers who hosted lavish fundraisers, social events and political candidates at Clairemont, featuring Cher impersonators and Mummers.

The family was so entrenched in county GOP politics that a senior trial court judge from Montgomery County was assigned the case after the entire Bucks County judiciary recused itself. A second outside judge took over the case in 2020, after the original judge retired.

Risoldi grew up in Trenton, New Jersey, where she ran a ticket agency and promoted rock concerts in the 1970s and at one point she won a large antitrust settlement against a large ticket broker, according to a 2015 Associated Press story.

The source of the family's reported wealth was a mystery with Risoldi offering conflicting stories.

In 1993, Risoldi claimed that her first husband collected disability payments from a tile company where he earned $75,000 to $85,000 a year as a foreman, according to 2015 charging documents. But she also claimed that he made "millions" doing marble and concrete work in Atlantic City, N.J.

The grand jury report alleged a pattern of questionable six-figure insurance claims by Risoldi dating to 1984.

In 1990, a federal judge sentenced her to probation after she pleaded guilty to two counts of felony mail fraud for using false medical documents to defraud her first husband’s union health insurance provider out of $13,028.

Jury convicts Risoldi of insurance fraud Risoldi gets jail after 'spectacular' fall from grace

Risoldi was 67-years-old in 2015 when the AG's office filed charges describing her as the mastermind behind the insurance fraud scheme. With a voice like loose gravel, flashy fashion sense, unfiltered comments, and gravity-defying poof of blonde hair, Risoldi gave off more of a gun moll than grandma vibe.

She was twice widowed. Her first husband Carl P. Risoldi died in 2001 at age 58. Her second husband, Thomas French, a former Bucks County deputy sheriff, who she married in 2013, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head two weeks after the insurance fraud charges were filed against him and the others.

Claire Risoldi was the only defendant in the fraud case to go to trial. Three other family members made deals that included no jail time. Charges were later dismissed against two family associates.

Those who knew Risoldi described her, during her 2019 trial, as kind and generous with her time and money.

Following three weeks of testimony, a jury found that Claire Risoldi collected $2.75 million in fraudulent claims and attempted to bilk insurer AIG out of another $10 million for a false claim on a separate jewelry policy.

The verdict was announced on the fourth anniversary of French’s suicide.

Months later, the family surrendered the heavily fire-damaged Clairemont property to the state to satisfy a restitution order. The property was sold at a public auction to a New York investment company for $750,000.  The renovated home sold last year for $3 million.

The auction took place while Claire Risoldi was serving a 30-day jail sentence for violating a court order in 2016. She also served five days in jail after her 2016 arrest on witness intimidation charges that were later dismissed.

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How Claire Risoldi avoided jail three times

At her sentencing hearing, Risoldi complained the steel frame beds in the county jail aggravated her herniated discs. She described her experience in lock up as “really, really rough” and “pure hell,” but added she wasn’t "looking for a pity party.”

In addition to her jail time, Risoldi was ordered to repay $10.4 million to AIG for fire-related claims.

At her first post-sentencing hearing in 2021, Risoldi showed up wearing her trademark mirrored aviator sunglasses and pushing a hot pink walker. The judge reduced the restitution amount she owed to $2.7 million after an appeals court ruled the fraud conviction did not invalidate legitimate insurance claims the family was paid.

But the new judge refused to change the original jail sentence in 2021 and again last year. Both times he ordered Risoldi to report to Bucks County Correctional Center.

Both time her lawyer filed appeals, and she avoided turning herself in.

Aside from those two court appearances, Risoldi maintained a low public profile after her conviction.  She claimed she was working on a book about her life and a publisher was interested in her story.

County records show her last known residence in the 4900 block of Danielle Drive  was sold for $1 to a holding company associated with her son in July 2021. The home’s previous owner, Karl Morris, purchased it in 2014 with insurance proceeds Claire Risoldi secretly provided as part of the insurance scheme she was convicted of.

At what would be her final court appearance in September, Risoldi was uncharacteristically barefaced, except for a cannula. She complained that her COPD was so bad she was tethered to an oxygen tank.

She claimed to use a cane all the time because her balance worsened after two strokes.

Physical limitations aside, her supersize personality was strong as ever.

While waiting outside the courtroom, Risoldi showered compliments on Senior Deputy Attorney General David Augenbraun.

“You don’t age,” she said. ‘You’re like an old friend.”

“An old friend who wants to put you in jail,” Diamondstein reminded her.

“Hey, you win some, you lose some," she replied.

More on the appeals of Claire Risoldi Exclusive: Claire Risoldi to pay less for insurance fraud scheme, still hopes to avoid jail time

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Claire Risoldi dead at 76, avoiding jail in multimillion dollar insurance scheme