Former Insurance Executive Pleads Guilty in $1.2 Million Embezzlement Scheme

GEORGIANNE CARLISLE, 57, of Taylorsville, Georgia, pleaded guilty yesterday to a federal charge of conspiracy arising out of a scheme to embezzle $1.2 million in insurance premiums from her employer and various other companies with which her employer did business. RICHARD CALVIN COOK, 56, from Dallas, Texas, has been charged with the same crime.

United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of the case, “This insurance industry executive violated the trust that her employer had placed in her by embezzling insurance premiums collected from customers and converting the money to her own use. This criminal conduct harms insurance companies and their customers and undermines public confidence in the insurance industry. Such criminals will face federal prosecution and prison time.”

According to United States Attorney Nahmias and other information presented in court: CARLISLE was the President of “IUI of Georgia, Inc.,” a wholesale insurance broker in Cartersville, Georgia. Co-defendant COOK was an employee of “Trans Insurance Services, Corp.,” a retail insurance agency in Dallas, Texas, which sold insurance to trucking companies. From 2001 through 2004, COOK and CARLISLE conspired to embezzle $1.2 million in insurance premiums collected from COOK’S customers, which premiums were owed to IUI of Georgia, Insurers Unlimited, Inc., Clarendon National Insurance Company, Clarendon America Insurance Company, Transportation Insurance Services, The Connecticut Indemnity Company, and Clearwater Insurance Company. COOK paid kickbacks to CARLISLE so that CARLISLE would under-report the number of vehicles to be insured on certain accounts and the total insured value of those accounts.

COOK and CARLISLE were charged in a Criminal Information with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, to which CARLISLE pleaded guilty. CARLISLE could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

Members of the public are reminded that a Criminal Information only contains charges. Defendant COOK is presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government's burden to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

Sentencing for CARLISLE has been set for June 18, 2009, at 10 a.m. before Judge Robert L. Vining, Jr.

This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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