View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2020/01/31/556722.htm
Edward J. Chadwick, of Yakima, Wash., was charged this week with first-degree theft in Spokane County Superior Court.
Chadwick was an insurance producer and owned an insurance agency called Kelt, primarily selling insurance to transportation companies. He was charged after an investigation by Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Criminal Investigations Unit
He is accused of fraudulently obtaining 24 insurance premium finance loans totaling $2.8 million from April 2016 through July 2018 from Tepco, a premium finance company based in Spokane. He is accused of obtaining loans on behalf of several fake trucking companies for commercial policies that didn’t exist. He also obtained loans on behalf of a former client, also a trucking company, without the client’s knowledge.
An insurance premium finance loan helps businesses pay for property/casualty insurance in installments rather than paying an entire year’s premium in full. The premium finance company pays the annual premium to the insurance company and the policyholder makes payments, including interest, to the premium finance company. The insurance producer helps the policyholder find the loan.
Tepco notified Kreidler’s office of Chadwick’s loans in December 2018. Chadwick repaid $1.9 million plus interest to Tepco. The balance of the loans is $898,662, not including interest and fees.
Kreidler revoked Chadwick’s insurance producer license in February 2019. Chadwick challenged the revocation, but Kreidler’s office prevailed and his license was officially revoked in September 2019.