Georgia Insurance Agent Sentenced After Conviction on Fraudulent Comp Certificates

This article has been updated to reflect information from the prosecutor in the case.

A Georgia insurance agent has been sentenced to five years in prison after he was convicted of providing fraudulent workers’ compensation coverage certificates while collecting thousands of dollars in premiums.

Jeffrey Alan Reichel, 66, of Suwanee, took the unusual approach of selling “insurance services” to business owners for about $100 a month, indicating that the businesses’ employees would be covered. In reality, only Reichel’s own company, Core Business Services Inc., was covered — with a bare-bones, minimum policy, according to Walton County Assistant District Attorney Ayman Tartir, who prosecuted Reichel.

“He was selling snake oil, and the jury saw that,” Tartir said.

The investigation began after Reichel’s carrier, Travelers, performed a routine audit and found that Reichel had provided more than 100 certificates of insurance, purporting to show that his clients were covered. The insurance agent later argued that he was legally exploiting a gray area of the insurance business: Part of Reichel’s business services was a temporary staffing service, and he claimed that the clients were somehow covered through his own policy, even though he never supplied any temporary workers, Tartir explained.

A dump-truck driver doing work for Walton County also raised red flags after he discovered that Reichel’s certificate did not actually provide any insurance coverage for the driver’s workers. After repeated attempts to reach Reichel for an explanation, Travelers turned over its concerns to the state Board of Workers’ Compensation, which led a thorough investigation, the prosecutor said.

At sentencing, Reichel read a lengthy “manifesto,” blaming “greedy insurance companies” and overzealous investigators for his legal troubles. But he failed to take responsibility for the fraud, Tartir said. The judge didn’t appreciate the monologue or lack of remorse and sentenced Reichel to more than the minimum amount provided by sentencing guidelines.

He also must serve 15 years of probation, Tartir said.

Reichel already was on probation after he pleaded guilty to similar insurance fraud charges in 2021 in Gwinnett County.

Topics Fraud Agencies Georgia