Former insurance exec indicted in $2B scheme
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A federal grand jury in Charlotte, North Carolina, indicted a former insurance executive on Thursday, charging him with masterminding and directing a $2 billion scheme to deceive state insurance regulators and defraud thousands of policyholders and others in connection with insurance companies he controlled, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.
The DOJ said according to court documents, from no later than 2016 through at least 2019, Greg E. Lindberg and others allegedly agreed to defraud various insurance companies other third parties and ultimately policyholders.
The DOJ said Mr. Lindberg allegedly deceived the North Carolina Department of Insurance and other regulators, evaded regulatory requirements meant to protect policyholders, concealed his insurance companies’ true financial condition and improperly used insurance company funds for his personal benefit.
He allegedly caused the insurance companies to make investments of nearly $2 billion as part of his scheme, most of which remained outstanding as of September. Multiple insurance companies controlled by Lindberg have been placed into rehabilitation or liquidation since 2019, the DOJ said.
The charges against Mr. Lindberg, which include wire fraud and submitting false insurance business statements to regulators, have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each of the top counts, the DOJ said in its statement.
One of Mr. Lindberg’s top executives pleaded guilty in December 2022 to various similar charges.
Separately, Mr. Lindberg remains under indictment and is awaiting trial in a case in which he faces several charges stemming from alleged attempts to bribe the North Carolina insurance commissioner, in a case the FBI is investigating.
