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.