Former Alabama Workers’ Comp Executive Goff Sentenced to 12 Years

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A former Montgomery, Alabama insurance executive has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for mail fraud and embezzlement in his insurance business.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson imposed the sentence on John Goff and ordered him to pay $5 million in restitution to XL America insurance company.

Goff was once a major supplier of workers’ compensation in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia.

A federal jury convicted him in February of mail fraud, embezzlement and filing a false report with the insurance department.

Prosecutors said that Goff stole millions to finance a lavish lifestyle. Defense attorneys said Goff was indicted for what was a business dispute with two subsidiaries of XL America Corp.

Federal prosecutors accused him of collecting premiums for two subsidiaries of XL America and not sending the company $4.5 million in premiums. They also accused him of lying to the state insurance department about his company’s background.

The Goff Group once had more than 200 employees. The agency sold policies for Greenwich Insurance Co. and XL Specialty Insurance of Stamford, Conn.

Goff’s lawyers claimed that XL America tried to force him out of business, a move they said would have allowed XL America to keep the customers without paying commissions to Goff.