The agent devised and carried out a scheme to defraud two life insurers by fraudulently obtaining life insurance policies in the names of people who were in poor health or who did not know that policies were being taken out in their names. By misrepresenting the applicant’s background and medical history, Jenkins was able to obtain policies insuring the lives of individuals who were otherwise uninsurable or who were only insurable at a higher premium. The ultimate goal of the scheme was for the co-schemers to collect the policies’ death benefits when the insureds died, which would be sooner than the insurance companies’ actuarial tables would have predicted because of the misrepresented information. The agent stood to benefit from the scheme by collecting commissions on the premiums paid by his co-schemers for these fraudulently-obtained life insurance policies. Before he was caught the agent collected more than $200,000 in premiums on the fake policies exposing the insurers to more than $20 million in losses on risks they would never have taken.

Insurance fraud is an equal opportunity crime. It is committed by people from every race, religion, national origin, age, weight, sexual preference or profession.

If it is performed by one in the business of insurance the agent should be put away for a long time and we should show him or her now mercy and stop making it easy for them to get away with the crime.

Association enforcement aside, I’d like to read an article about how agents can specifically foster trust among the public beyond just the day to day business of doing honest work.