brain teaser #13
 

A man, having purchased a case of rare, very expensive cigars, insured them against .... get this .... fire! Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of fabulous cigars, and having yet to make a single premium payment on the policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the man stated that he had lost the cigars in "a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in a normal fashion. The man sued ... and won!
Instead of a lengthy trial, the insurance company gave him the £15,000 that was due to him. However, the insurance company still had to have the last word. When the man got home, he was promptly arrested by the police on 24 charges. What were they?

Arson?

arson?

arson and insurance fraud probably

Arson. With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used as evidence against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning the rare cigars and sentenced to 24 consecutive one year terms.

for each individual cigar, thus the 24 counts

well, except it isn't a true story