Montana insurance broker jailed for fraud

A Helena, Montana-based commercial insurance broker has been sentenced to 90 days in jail, given a 10-year suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution for insurance fraud.

Mark Biegler pled guilty to six felony charges of insurance fraud and theft, according to the state’s Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, Office of the Montana State Auditor.

Mr. Biegler previously worked at Hub International Ltd. but he was terminated by Hub in 2017, a spokeswoman for the brokerage said in an email. The charges relate to Montana Premier Insurance LLC, an agency he established, she said.

According to court papers filed in state court in 2020, between September 2018 and September 2020, Mr. Biegler, who held insurance and surplus lines insurance producer licenses, was charged with criminal insurance fraud and theft of insurance premium against five businesses. 

He was also charged with fraud for filing false written statements to State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. in May 2017.

The specifics of the fraud allegations vary, but in one case he was charged with having a business pay a premium directly to him instead of to an insurer, and altering a declaration by falsely stating the business had insurance coverage.

Montana Commissioner Troy Downing said in a statement that Mr. Biegler “was a con artist who took advantage of his friends and clients” while risking the insurance industry’s reputation.