Near North Hit With Fraud Charges

After charging Near North Insurance Brokerage Inc. owner Michael Segal for insurance and mail fraud in a scheme to allegedly embezzle $24 million from the company’s reserve fund, federal prosecutors are now charging the company itself with seven counts each of the same charges, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.

Segal’s accountant, Daniel Watkins, has also been charged with one count of embezzling Near North funds.

Segal’s trial was scheduled to begin soon but now will likely be postponed. Segal had signed a letter of intent to sell the insurance brokerage, part of Chicago-based Near North National Group, to the equity investment firm of Frontenac Co. It’s unclear how the new charges will affect the pending sale.

According to Crain’s, which attained a copy of the superceding indictment filed the U.S. Northern District Attorney’s Office, Segal allegedly embezzled the Near North money by running it through a bogus postal stamp account purportedly for business purposes. In actuality, prosecutors allege, the money was going to fund political friends’ campaigns and for personal use.

Topics Fraud