Insurance Broker Sentenced to Over Four Years in Prison

An insurance broker who submitted false applications for insurance premium financing was sentenced today by United States District Judge Willis B. Hunt, Jr. to serve four years, two months in federal prison for using fictitious names in the course of a mail fraud scheme. Douglas Terry Dean, 61, of Jasper, Georgia, pleaded guilty to these charges on August 25, 2011.

“Fraud in the insurance industry leads to higher costs for everyone, including the ultimate consumer,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “This defendant’s scheme impacted not only his direct victims, but everyone who bears the burden of fraud by having to pay higher prices for goods and services.”

Dean was sentenced to four years, two months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay restitution totaling approximately $6,964,157. Dean was convicted of these charges on August 25, 2011 upon his plea of guilty.

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: Dean was an insurance agent who owned his own firm, Dean & Moore Inc. Dean specialized in assisting commercial clients obtain insurance policies, as well as financing to pay for those policies. Dean submitted numerous false and fraudulent applications for financing to premium finance companies. Some of these applications were in the names of real people or companies, while others were submitted for fictitious entities.

The false information was not the same on every application, but examples include the amount to be financed or the existence of an insurance policy when none existed. On some applications, Dean neglected to inform the premium finance company that the insurance policy had already been financed by another company. Dean defrauded the premium finance companies of approximately $6,964,157, which he must now pay as restitution.

This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorney Christopher C. Bly prosecuted the case.