Former Georgia insurance commissioner convicted

Jim C. Beck/ NAIC

Former Georgia Insurance Commissioner Jim C. Beck was convicted by a federal jury in Atlanta Thursday on all 37 counts of an indictment charging him with embezzling more than $2 million from his former employer, the Georgia Underwriting Association.

Mr. Beck’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 8, and he will be confined to his home until then. He had resigned as insurance commissioner after his 2019 indictment.

Before being elected Georgia insurance commissioner, Mr. Beck had worked as general manager of operations for the Suwanee, Georgia-based Georgia Underwriting Association, which provides high-risk property insurance to Georgia homeowners.

He was charged with talking four associates into forming four separate businesses that supposedly supplied necessary services, including property inspections and water damage mitigation, to the association.

Then, through an elaborate system of fraudulent invoicing that included producing false documentation and concealing the truth from the associates, Mr. Beck regularly approved substantial GUA payments to the four companies, defrauding the association out of more than $2 million, according to his indictment.