Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland revoked the insurance license of abstract company owner Steve Phipps, who is at the center of an ongoing federal investigation into illegal campaign financing.
Holland took the action in a six-page petition filed with her office that states Phipps’ guilty plea to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud placed him in violation of state insurance regulations.
Specifically, Holland’s order states that Phipps, who entered the guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Muskogee in June, used “fraudulent and dishonest business practices” and demonstrated “incompetence, untrustworthiness and financial irresponsibility in the conduct of business in this state.”
“We want to make sure that everyone licensed in the state that we are responsible for regulating are held to the highest standards of ethics and honesty,” said a spokesman for Holland’s office, Marc Young.
Holland suspended Phipps’ license on July 10 and signed her revocation order on Monday. Phipps received notice of the suspension order on July 17 and had 21 days to request a hearing on the issue. No hearing was sought.
Phipps, a 52-year-old Kiowa businessman and estranged business partner of ex-state Sen. Gene Stipe, pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement and admitted paying kickbacks to three state legislators. Phipps has agreed to cooperate in the continuing investigation and is awaiting sentencing.
Former Rep. Mike Mass pleaded guilty to a similar charge in April and also is cooperating with federal authorities.
Holland’s order states the purpose of the conspiracy was to steer funds appropriated by the Legislature to the Rural Development Foundation, which would then provide funds to National Pet Products and Indian Nation Entertainment Corp., which were largely owned by Phipps.
In order to secure the state funding, Phipps agreed to periodically pay Mass and two other state lawmakers a percentage of the gross income from the gaming machines manufactured as the result of the state funding,” Holland’s order states.
Holland’s petition says Phipps’ conduct “is detrimental to the public health, safety or welfare.”
Federal prosecutors say Mass is believed to have gotten $250,000 in kickbacks. Two other former legislators, Randall Erwin and Jerry Hefner, have been implicated in the federal investigation in FBI affidavits, but have not been charged.
In addition to the mail fraud case, Phipps and Stipe have been connected to a scheme that federal prosecutors say involved reimbursing so-called “straw donors” listed as having given to U.S. Rep. Dan Boren’s re-election campaign.
Boren said he did not know about the illegal contributions and donated the money to charity.
Topics Oklahoma
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