Former Licensed Agent Faces Felony Charges in Insurance Fraud Scheme

ORANGE, Calif. — Formerly licensed insurance agent Paul Kirton, 51, of Bozeman, Montana, has been charged with eleven felony counts including identity theft, grand theft, and embezzlement after allegedly writing 162 fraudulent policies in an attempt to gain unearned commissions. 

The Department began an investigation after an insurance company was notified by one of their insureds that they were not employed by the company listed on their policy.

The investigation revealed that Kirton wrote 162 policies for 38 policyholders under ‘company groups’ who were never employed with the companies, making the individuals ineligible to be placed on the company group accounts. This caused the insurance company to allegedly pay out more than $182,376 in unauthorized claim benefits on fraudulent policies.

Read the entire press release.  California Department of Insurance, March 22, 2022

NICB assisted the investigation.