The politically powerful Buckingham woman convicted of defrauding insurance giant AIG to the tune of $20 million, died July 14, according to several news outlets.
Claire Risoldi was 76. No further information about her death was available.
Deeply connected to the Bucks County Republican Party, the bold, often brash, woman was twice convicted of felonies stemming from three fires at the family’s 10-acre estate that bore her name.
Risoldi captured headlines for a number of years, after a fire caused severe damage to the family home, “Clairemont,” in 2013. Suspicion of her insurance claims followed, when two more fires of undetermined cause ripped through the lavish property over four years.
In one insurance claim, the Risoldis accused volunteer firefighters battling the blaze at the sprawling house of stealing $10 million in jewelry.
The family’s lifestyle of expensive cars, furs, extravagant parties and other markers of wealth, such as a hand-painted ceiling mural depicting the family lounging in Roman dress, drew attention from insurance adjusters and eventually the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office.
After a series of trials and other legal proceedings, Risoldi was convicted of insurance fraud in 2019. Numerous appeals kept her from ever serving her sentence of 11½ to 23 months in jail.
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