Updated 12:34 pm PST, Wednesday, February 12, 2020 BOSTON (AP) — A Boston man pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to scheming to defraud several insurance companies out of millions of dollars by taking out life insurance policies on a brother who had died.Kellerman Jason Zheng, 33, pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud, the U.S.attorney for Boston said in a statement.

Zheng took out at least 24 life insurance policies in his brother’s name, which combined carried total coverage limits in excess of $11.5 million, from December 2016 until March 2018, authorities said.Zheng and his parents were the beneficiaries of the policies.But Zheng’s brother had died in China in April 2015, prosecutors said.

Zheng also took steps to make it appear as though his brother was alive by opening and using bank accounts in his brother’s name and renewing his brother’s driver’s license.He also obtained a false Chinese death certificate indicating that his brother had died in August 2018, which he used to submit more than $5 million in life insurance claims.Sentencing is scheduled for June 18.