Fraudsters stole up to $135 billion in unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic, the Government Accountability Office reported Tuesday, delivering the most thorough government examination of the problem to date. In addition to fraud, states say they have identified another $50.5 billion in overpayments in the Unemployment Insurance…
News coverage of insurance industry and financial advisor regulation.
More Stories
Industry accuses SEC of ‘outright hostile’ regulatory approach to technology
Industry trade organizations blasted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “continued war on technology” in a comment letter addressing a new rule proposal.
A controller at a Louisville firm used her access to company debit and credit cards to steal more than $260,000, according to a federal news release. A grand jury in Louisville indicted Amy D. Hall, 37, on seven charges of wire fraud. Hall, the accounting controller of a design and construction company, stole more than $260,000 from her employer between December…
Insurance commissioner warns on false Calif. LTC plan information
California’s insurance commissioner puts long-term care insurers and agents on notice for spreading misleading marketing materials and emails.
Donald Trump and his advisers are mapping out an economic agenda with harsher trade policies and deeper tax cuts if he returns to the White House, stirring anxiety within the U.S. business community of potential retaliatory measures. Jacking up tariffs could spur inflation, hurt U.S. manufacturing and prompt other countries to increase their tariffs as well,…
DOL sends new fiduciary rule to the White House for review
The Department of Labor sent its long-delayed fiduciary rule rewrite to the White House Office of Management and Budget late Friday.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Philip R. Sellinger, issued the following news release on Aug. 30, 2023:. An Indian national admitted today that he conspired with others to devise a scheme to defraud various telephone providers and insurance companies out of millions of dollars by using stolen or fake identities to submit fraudulent claims for…
Mixed expectations for impending DOL fiduciary rule
The Department of Labor stayed silent Wednesday on a new fiduciary rule rewrite it promised to unveil by the end of August.
The embattled California agency that provides employment services and unemployment insurance has been designated as a "high-risk" agency in a new report from the state auditor's office. The Employment Development Department's mishandling of the state's unemployment insurance program and its failure to issue accurate eligibility rulings poses a "…
WASHINGTON— The Justice Department on Tuesday said the FBI led a multinational effort involving the authorities from France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Romania and Latvia to take down criminal infrastructure, disabling malware known as Qakbot. "The action represents the largest U.S.- led financial and technical disruption of a botnet…
WASHINGTON— The Justice Department announced today the results of a coordinated, nationwide enforcement action to combat COVID-19 fraud, which included 718 enforcement actions– including federal criminal charges against 371 defendants– for offenses related to over $836 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud. "The Justice Department has now seized over $1.4…
SEC fines fintech advisor $1M for misleading marketing under new rules
The Securities and Exchange Commission last week fined Titan Global Capital Management, a New York-based fintech advisor, for misleading marketing under a newly amended rule.
Man accused of home improvement fraud in CT accepts convictions but may avoid jail by repaying money
But after Dias admitted he was guilty of one of the misdemeanor counts Thursday in the Manchester court, Judge Sheila M. Prats put him on probation for five years, with the six months of prison time kicking in if he violates release conditions, records show. Also Thursday, a Manchester prosecutor dropped all charges stemming from a Glastonbury woman's…
State insurance regulators grapple with how and whether to regulate AI
State regulators released a draft bulletin on artificial intelligence usage by insurers and it is not popular with lobbyists on either side of the issue.
Hagadone faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release on the wire fraud crime and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison, consecutive to any other punishment, a $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release on the aggravated identity theft crime. Hagadone was released pending further proceedings.
COEUR d'ALENE— A Kootenai County judge has dismissed most of the claims in a civil lawsuit against three North Idaho College trustees. The civil lawsuit— filed last December by Mike Gridley, former attorney for the city of Coeur d'Alene— accused trustees Greg McKenzie, Todd Banducci and Mike Waggoner of fraud and of violating Idaho's open meeting laws.
Kansas urges state regulator group to abandon data privacy proposal
The insurance industry is not pleased with the direction state regulators are taking on a new proposal to regulate the use of consumer data.
‘Scary’ study: young people don’t consider insurance fraud a crime
More than a quarter of Americans under age 35 say they would be “envious” and “motivated” by someone they know committing insurance fraud.
Tim Temple will be Louisiana's next insurance commissioner after Rich Weaver, a political unknown who was the only other candidate, dropped out of that race Wednesday. Temple will inherit a thorny set of issues, with the homeowners' insurance market in turmoil in south Louisiana after four hurricanes slammed Louisiana in 2020 and 2021. In the last two years, nine…
Denny Bhakta, 41, was arraigned in federal court on Friday on charges that he fraudulently obtained $4 million in Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, loans for multiple business entities he managed and controlled. Bhakta allegedly applied for and received 18 PPP loans for four organizations he controlled including Fusion Hotel Management, LLC; Fusion…
