Four months after two Florida men were charged with operating a sham insurance company and a month after regulators ordered them to cease operations, the two have been indicted on federal fraud and money laundering charges.
A federal grand jury indicted Christopher Jason Brossett, 45, and Brady Allen Howard, 59, of Destin, Florida, on multiple charges stemming from The Wave Insurance, a risk retention group incorporated in Florida in 2025, and Hydrogen Deep, a company formed in 2019. Howard is a licensed insurance agent, records show.
Neither The Wave nor Hydrogen Deep were licensed to operate as property-casualty insurance companies in Florida, and they did not maintain the $5 million in reserves or $4 million in operating funds required by Florida regulations, the indictment explains.
That license oversight didn’t stop the men from soliciting and accepting more than $651,000 in premium payments from people and business over a two-year period, providing falsified certificates of insurance, and keeping the funds for personal use, the indictment alleges.
The two were arrested this summer in Okaloosa County, after an investigation by the Florida Department of Financial Services and the Internal Revenue Service. In September, Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky issued a cease-and-desist order for the men and their companies, noting that the companies had never been licensed to operate in the state.
Court records and a bulletin from the U.S. Attorney’s office did not explain why the investigation was presented to a federal grand jury, weeks after the men were arrested on state charges. State and federal prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could lawyers who were appointed to represent the defendants.
Brossett and Howard both pleaded not guilty at an Oct. 16 arraignment. Trial is set for Dec. 14 at the federal courthouse in Pensacola.
Florida DFS records show that Howard is a licensed insurance producer, appointed with one life insurance company but not with a property-casualty company. Corporation records show that he previously worked with Coconut Financial Group, in Destin, and with Bikini Bottom Scuba LLC, in Fort Walton Beach.
Photo: The resort city of Destin (DepositPhotos)
Topics Florida
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