Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner, Jim Beck, has just been indicted on 38 counts.
A federal grand jury has indicted the Republican commissioner, alleging that he committed fraud.
He was elected insurance commissioner last year, and he has worked in various positions involving the state government over the past few decades. He has also been known at the Capitol as an insurance lobbyist and as a representative of the Georgia Christian Coalition.
Beck is accused of committing fraud through a series of insurance-related schemes, and the profit from the schemes is reported to have earned him millions. Some of the proceeds are reported to have also been used for his campaign for statewide office as described in his indictment.
In the indictment, Beck is described as knowingly devising and intending to “devise a scheme and artifice to defraud the Georgia Underwriting Association, and to obtain money and property from that entity by means of a materially false and fraudulent pretense, representation, and promise, as well as by an omission of material facts, well knowingly and having reason to know that said pretense, representation, and promise was and would be false and fraudulent.”
Along with spending thousands on personal expenses, investments are also reported to have been made to improve his personal rental property and to pay his state and federal income taxes.
Under Georgia’s law, if Beck does not ask to be suspended or if he does not resign, then the governor has authority to act after a 14-day waiting period.
If Beck chooses to remain in office, then the governor must appoint a committee of three people to investigate and review the charges to determine whether they relate to his duties in office.
The commission then has 14 days to make a determination. And, if they should find that they do relate to his duties in office, then the governor must suspend Beck and name a temporary replacement.
