4. CNA underwriter charged with fraud

A former CNA Financial Corp. health care liability underwriter, who was charged with collecting premium payments for his personal benefit, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced to serve 6½ to eight years in prison and ordered to pay $16.1 million in restitution.

David Ballard was charged by the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois with collecting more than $13.5 million in premium payments, beginning in 2005, from an unidentified Pennsylvania-based health care company for more than 10 years on matching deductible insurance policies.  Under the coverage, the policy limit matched the deductible, but the insurer pays claims if the policyholder becomes insolvent.

The story detailing the charges was the fourth most read risk management story published on Business Insurance’s website in 2018.

Mr. Ballard, a CNA underwriting group vice president who left the insurer in 2016, used the premium payments to purchase real estate for himself and his family, and to pay for personal expenses that included credit card bills, expensive dinners and trips, according to the plea agreement in the case.

Neither the complaint nor the plea agreement identified the policyholder, but sources have said Mr. Ballard worked for CNA.