Greg Lindbeg. Credit: Interrogating Justice
One federal court has ruled on criminal cases involving Greg Lindberg, the former owner of Global Bankers Insurance Group, and those rulings will clear the way for other courts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to move forward with their cases against Lindberg.
Federal prosecutors have been prosecuting Lindberg in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in connection with allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering.
Lindberg pleaded guilty on Nov. 12, 2024, to engaging in a conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States and a conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to court documents.
The conspiracies were connected with moves Lindberg made from 2016 through 2019 to defraud the Global Bankers insurance companies and the companies' policyholders, and to attempt to evade regulatory requirements by trying to bribe a North Carolina insurance commissioner candidate, officials said.
U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn Jr. issued an order May 28 that sentenced Lindberg to 12 years in prison and ordered him to pay $1.655 billion in restitution.
The restitution total includes $682 million for former Global Bankers affiliates based in Bermuda and $973 million for three former company affiliates based in North Carolina: Colorado Bankers Life Insurance Co., Bankers Life Insurance Co. and Southland National Insurance Corp.
The Bermuda- and North Carolina-based companies are all involved in liquidation proceedings.
The Colorado Bankers Life company involved has no connection with CNO Financial's Bankers Life and Casualty Co.
Cogburn also issued another order in a criminal case May 26. In that order, Cogburn called for Lindberg to forfeit about $200 million in assets. The final forfeiture amount will be based on the amount of "primary assets," or assets related to the crime, available to be forfeited, according to the text of the order.
Joseph Grier III, a special master hired by the judge, estimated in April that Lindberg has about $1.2 billion to $1.9 billion in assets.
State guaranty funds have already made large payments to the customers of the Global Bankers affiliate customers in the United States, and large portions of any restitution payments are likely to go to the guaranty funds, officials said.
Representatives for Lindberg and the guaranty associations were not immediately available to comment on the case.
Nicole Argentieri, head of the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division, said Lindberg and co-conspirators misused $2 billion of insurance company funds.
"Thousands of policyholders suffered substantial financial hardship as a result of Lindberg's fraud scheme," Argentieri said.
What it means: Any Global Bankers affiliate insurance or annuity customers who are still facing losses in connection with their products could get more payments.
The history: Lindberg got into financial services by starting a home care newsletter when he was a student at Yale.
He later began buying a variety of other companies, including insurance companies.
Regulators accused him of mismanaging company assets and of trying to bribe an official in North Carolina.
Lindberg argued that regulators and prosecutors had blown minor problems out of proportion and crippled his ability to run the insurance companies by taking steps that cut off his access to capital.
North Carolina regulators first put the Global Bankers insurance companies in rehabilitation and later put the companies in liquidation.
Lindberg and his companies ended up facing the federal criminal cases, a state court lawsuit, a federal civil suit filed by the SEC, a federal suit filed by the insurance companies he had owned, a federal suit filed by insurance agents, and a federal civil suit filed by an internet marketing company.
A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina ordered Lindberg and his companies to pay about $450,000 to the internet marketing company.
Judges have frozen the other cases while the final outcome of the federal criminal cases is pending.
Lindberg has spent a total of about four years in jails and detention centers as a result of the criminal proceedings.
The agents' case: The agents' case, James Jordan et al. v. Preferred Financial Corp. LLC and Greg E. Lindberg, involves a class of 2,500 Colorado Bankers Life agents who have not received commission payments since June 2019, when Colorado Bankers Life entered rehabilitation proceedings.
Colorado Bankers Life sold a life insurance policy with an annuity rider; a 10-year term life insurance policy with a critical illness rider; a policy designed to cover funeral expenses; and an accident medical expense and accidental injury policy.
Preferred Financial was a Colorado Bankers Life affiliate that helped connect the company to managing general agents, general agents and independent marketing organizations.
The agents' case is in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Greg Lindberg. Credit: Interrogating Justice
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