Elmezayen allegedly paid nearly $6,000 a year for these policies – even though he was earning less than $30,000 a year – and he called at least two of the insurance companies to confirm they would not investigate claims made two years after the policies were purchased. In this Thursday, April 9, 2015 photo, divers emerge from the water as debris believed to be from a car floats to the surface where a car went off the berth and into the water at the San Pedro Slip, across... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Thursday, April 9, 2015 photo, divers emerge from the water as debris believed to be from a car floats to the surface where a car went off the berth and into the water at the San Pedro Slip, across from Ports O'Call in San Pedro, Calif. U.S. prosecutors have charged an Egyptian father with fraudulently... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Thursday, April 9, 2015 photo, divers emerge from the water as debris believed to be from a car floats to the surface where a car went off the berth and into the water at the San Pedro Slip, across from Ports O'Call in San Pedro, Calif. U.S. prosecutors have charged an Egyptian father with fraudulently... (Associated Press) In this Thursday, April 9, 2015 photo, divers emerge from the water as debris believed to be from a car floats to the surface where a car went off the berth and into the water at the San Pedro Slip, across... (Associated Press) 
 
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — An Egyptian man was held without bail Tuesday on federal charges of fraudulently collecting insurance payouts after driving his severely autistic children to their deaths when he sped off a pier into the Port of Los Angeles. Elmezayen's car window was open, and he surfaced within 30 seconds and swam to a ladder on the pier. Two boys, Abdelkarim, 8, and Elhassan, 13, couldn't swim and were strapped in child seats. Elmezayen then collected more than $260,000 in insurance proceeds from American General Life Insurance and Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance on the accidental death insurance policies he had taken out on the children’s lives, according to the complaint. The federal investigators received substantial assistance from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Port Police and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.
– What at first appeared to be a tragic accident is now labeled a "coldhearted scheme." Two children, ages 8 and 13, died on April 9, 2015, when the car their father was driving sped off a Los Angeles wharf and sank. Ali Elmezayen, whose window was open, quickly emerged, followed by his domestic partner, Rabab Diab, but their severely autistic children, strapped in the back seat of the 1998 Honda Civic, were pronounced dead once divers freed them. Prosecutors now say it was a double murder planned by Elmezayen, 44, for more than two years, per the Washington Post. In 2012 and 2013, Elmezayen allegedly purchased several accidental death policies providing more than $6 million in coverage for his family, costing him 20% of his annual salary, which was less than $30,000, per a DOJ release. Prosecutors say he even confirmed that claims wouldn't be investigated after two years. The crash allegedly came two years and 12 days after the last policy was bought, per the AP. "The alleged conduct shocks the conscience," says US attorney Nick Hanna. The problem is that the evidence may not prove murder. Elmezayen, who initially speculated about an "evil inside of me that pushed me to go," later said the car's brakes failed, and saltwater corrosion has made it difficult to determine their condition at the time of the crash, per the AP. Citing insufficient evidence of murder, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has instead charged Elmezayen with mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, alleging he posed as Diab in interactions with insurance companies. Held without bail, Elmezayen faces up to 20 years in prison for each fraud count if convicted. (Cops say a mom's "moment of frustration" led to her toddler's death.)