Colin Jackson Convicted of Participating in Scheme to Defraud Automobile Insurance Company

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal jury convicted Colin Jackson of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. The jury's verdict followed a seven-day trial before U.S. District Judge Trina L. Thompson.

The jury found that Jackson conspired with others, including a previously convicted defendant, Kirill Afanasyev, to defraud an automobile insurance company concerning the submission of a fraudulent insurance claim on an already-wrecked car in 2018.

According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, Jackson, 39, of San Francisco, obtained an insurance policy on an undrivable car in June 2018. He made a number of misstatements in his application for that policy, including regarding his estimated annual mileage on the car. Five months later, in November 2018, Jackson and Afanasyev worked together to submit a fraudulent claim concerning a fake accident to the insurer. Unaware it had insured a wrecked car, the defrauded automobile-insurance company approved the claim and paid Jackson about $27,000-the insurer's estimate of the replacement value of the car, which had been titled in Jackson's name.

The 2018 fraud followed a similar scheme in 2017, when Jackson and Afanasyev obtained a payout from the insurer of approximately $30,000 on another already-wrecked car titled in Jackson's name.

United States Attorney Craig Missakian, FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Matthew Cobo, and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Oakland Field Office Special Agent in Charge Linda Nguyen made the announcement.

Jackson is next scheduled to appear before Judge Thompson for sentencing on September 25, 2026.

With the jury's verdict against Jackson, more than a dozen defendants have either pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial as part of an ongoing federal investigation into automobile insurance frauds and an unrelated arson conspiracy involving an overlapping defendant, Jose Badillo, who previously pleaded guilty to participating in both parts of the scheme.

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Operation Hammer Down

Operation Hammer Down was a federal investigation into automobile-insurance frauds orchestrated by Afanasyev and Badillo, the former owner of Jose's Towing, Auto Towing, and Specialty Towing. In total, Afanasyev, Badillo, and others submitted and conspired to submit more than 50 fraudulent insurance claims that caused in excess of $1.5 million dollars in losses to automobile insurance companies.

Operation Hammer Down also concerned arsons orchestrated by Badillo, who sought to impede his competitors' business prospects to exact revenge against them for perceived wrongs. For his role in the arson campaign, Badillo was sentenced in February 2026 to 60 months in custody by U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin.

The cases that resulted from the investigation include the following, among others:

These prosecutions are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF San Francisco comprises agents and officers from FBI and IRS, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Galen A. Phillips and Nicholas M. Parker are prosecuting these cases with the assistance of Lance Libatique, Andy Ding, Carolyn Jusay, and Yaqiong Fan. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and IRS-CI. The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI thank the San Francisco Police Department for its assistance with the investigation.