Thursday, May 7, 2015

YOU LIE, YOU LOSE: FORMER GEORGIA INSURANCE BROKER PLEADS GUILTY TO NATIONAL TRUCKING CARGO INSURANCE FRAUD SCHEME




MAY 7, 2015

John Paul Kill, the former operator of Appeal Insurance Agency LLC has pleaded guilty to a charge of insurance fraud.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Kill collected more than $3.7 million from nearly 800 trucking companies nationwide for fraudulent cargo insurance policies.

The DOJ alleges Kill operated an insurance brokerage firm, Appeal Insurance Agency in Norcross, Ga. and began offering cargo insurance policies to trucking companies in 2013. Kill falsely represented to clients that he would bind cargo insurance policies through Lloyd’s of London. In the insurance industry, binding coverage serves as an agreement between the insurance provider and insured parties to provide insurance coverage. In reality, Kill did not bind any policies with Lloyd’s and instead pocketed the premium payments.

For a small portion of victims, Kill bound cargo insurance policies through a different company that offered less extensive coverage than what the trucking companies thought they purchased through Kill. Most of the victims received no insurance policies at all, and Kill instead attempted to pay claims for losses out of the premium payments he collected for new policies.

In total, nearly 800 trucking companies located in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia paid about $3.75 million in premiums for these fraudulent insurance policies from 2013 through mid-2014.
Sentencing for Kill, 63, of Norcross, is scheduled for July 10 at 10:00 a.m.