Michigan Insurance Agent Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Clients’ Money

A Muskegon insurance agent charged with fraud and embezzling his clients’ money has pleaded guilty, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) Director Anita Fox.

In February, Charles Booker Jr., 63, was charged with:

• Three counts of embezzlement by an agent or trustee of $1,000 or more but less than $20,000, a felony punishable by five years’ imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine, or three times the amount embezzled, whichever is greater;
• One count of insurance fraud, a four-year felony and/or a $50,000 fine; and
• Using a computer to commit a crime, which is a felony punishable by seven years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine in this instance.

The attorney general’s office alleged that between October 2014 and June 2016 Booker collected nearly $17,200 insurance premiums from 42 clients but failed to remit the premiums to Farmers Insurance. Instead, Booker converted the money to his own use.

He also allegedly applied money he collected in premiums from three clients to the policies of several other clients whose premiums he did not remit to the insurer.

Before Judge Maria Ladas Hoopes in Muskegon County’s 60th District Court, Booker pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor embezzlement by an agent of $200 or more but less than $1,000.

He also paid $13,764 in restitution prior to entering the guilty plea. Booker further signed a written acknowledgement that he engaged in insurance fraud and that he was not eligible to seek re-licensure as an insurance agent.

In addition to the restitution, the judge ordered Booker to pay $1,500 in fines and costs as his sentence.

Farmers Insurance honored the affected insurance policies.

Source: Michigan Attorney General’s Office

Topics Agencies Michigan