A Muskegon insurance agent has been charged with fraud and embezzling more than $17,000 of his clients’ money, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) announced on Feb. 15.
Charles Booker Jr., 63, was arraigned Feb. 10 in Muskegon County 60th District Court in front of Judge Maria Ladas Hoopes. He is charged with:
• Three counts of embezzlement by an agent or trustee of $1,000 or more but less than $20,000, a felony punishable by five years’ imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine, or three times the amount embezzled, whichever is greater.
• One count of insurance fraud, a four-year felony and/or a $50,000 fine.
• Using a computer to commit a crime, which is a felony punishable by seven years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine in this instance.
Booker was given a $25,000 personal recognizance bond.
“This case should serve as another reminder that DIFS and my office will continue to pursue justice on behalf of the many Michigan residents whose finances are not used as they intended or in accordance with the law,” Nessel said.
“My office will continue to work alongside DIFS to enforce Michigan regulations and hold accountable those who attempt to violate our laws.”
“DIFS and the attorney general are working together to aggressively combat insurance fraud, so these con artists would be well-advised to find an honest line of work,” said DIFS Director Anita Fox. “Protecting consumers from those who violate the public trust is a top priority for DIFS and we will work with the attorney general to make sure that bad actors are removed from the insurance business and cannot prey on Michigan consumers.”
The Attorney General’s Office alleges that between October 2014 and June 2016 Booker collected nearly $17,200 in insurance premiums from 42 clients but failed to remit the premiums to Farmers Insurance.
Instead, Booker converted the money to his own use. He also allegedly applied money he collected in premiums from three clients to the policies of several other clients whose premiums he did not remit to the insurer.
Booker is scheduled for a probable cause conference on Feb. 17 and a preliminary examination on Feb. 24.
The newly established DIFS Fraud Investigation Unit investigates criminal and fraudulent activity related to the insurance and financial markets and works with the attorney general and law enforcement to prosecute these crimes.
Suspected insurance fraud can be reported to DIFS safely, easily and, in most cases, anonymously by calling 877-999-6442 or online by visiting the department’s website, www.michigan.gov/difs.
- Posted February 19, 2021
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Muskegon insurance agent charged with fraud, embezzling $17,000 of clients' money
headlines Muskegon (Norton-Lakeshore)
- Attorney’s work includes multi-million dollar cases
- Firms put the brakes on lateral hiring in 2023: falling 35% from 2022
- Michigan Law lecturer Betsy Fisher proposes solutions to the issue of stateless people
- ABA issues ethics guidance on avoiding conflicts with unretained prospective clients
- Muskegon Lumberjacks win regular-season finale, secure opening-round bye in Clark Cup playoffs
headlines National
- New Legalese: You may have heard a deepfake, but what about ‘Twiqbal’?
- From Intake to Outcome: An in-house lawyer’s guide to matter management solutions
- 2 BigLaw firms in merger talks that could produce 1,600-lawyer firm with top 50 revenue
- Send in the paralegals
- Lawyer reprimanded after mistakenly emailing opposing counsel with plan to avoid judge’s call
- ‘I don’t play well’ judge who threatened to track down, jail misbehaving litigant gets tossed from case