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A former White and Williams insurance attorney has been federally charged for allegedly scamming product manufacturers and class action settlements out of $3.4 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia announced.

Federal prosecutors charged Craig Cohen by information on one count of wire fraud Monday. They claimed Cohen, who represented insurance companies in litigation over water damage, created a shell company called WLSP, which he used to file fabricated claims to collect settlement money for himself over the course of four years. He also used legitimate claims from the insurance companies he represented to illicitly line his own pockets, prosecutors alleged.

Reached Tuesday, Cohen declined to comment.

"Attorneys of any kind, public or private, take an oath to act in accordance with the law—not to use their law license to steal," U.S. Attorney William McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a statement Monday. "The allegations here are particularly disturbing, as the defendant went to great lengths to deceive and defraud his employer and its clients of millions of dollars, which is illegal conduct for an employee in any line of work, but is especially egregious for a lawyer."

According to prosecutors, from 2015 to 2019 Cohen created fake subrogation claims by modifying the paperwork from legitimate claims that he and other attorneys had already successfully resolved on behalf of law firm clients.

"His fake paperwork for each claim made it falsely appear that losses to the insured were caused by one manufacturer's defective product, when in fact, a different manufacturer's product caused those losses," prosecutors said in Monday's statement. "Where necessary, Cohen would physically damage products and take pictures of them to submit with his fraudulent claim. He also engaged an expert engineer to examine the defective product and issue a report describing the defect that would entitle Cohen's purported client to a recovery against the product manufacturer or settlement fund."

In addition to filing fake claims, prosecutors said "Cohen also used legitimate, unresolved claims from insurance company clients of the firm and submitted those claims through WLSP, generating financial recoveries entirely for himself."

In those cases, Cohen allegedly convinced the firm and its clients that their claims were not viable and they shouldn't be pursued, even though they were, prosecutors claimed.

"In converting these legitimate claims to his own company's name and pursuing them solely for his own benefit, Cohen defrauded the insurance company clients of the law firm that were entitled to a recovery as well as the law firm that was entitled to a contingency fee on those matters," prosecutors said.

To give the appearance of a legitimate business, prosecutors said Cohen also opened a post office box in Philadelphia and created internet domains and email addresses for his company.

Cohen was suspended by the state disciplinary board in April.

A spokeswoman for White and Williams said Tuesday, "We have worked closely with the U.S. Attorney's Office throughout this situation and we are satisfied with the thoroughness and speed of the investigation. We understand Mr. Cohen will be entering into a guilty plea and cannot comment on the specifics of the agreement."