Archive: October 2024

Landmark Admin Reports Data Breach, Exposing 800,000 Users’ Information
Insurance Journal | October 31, 2024
Landmark Admin Reports Data Breach, Exposing 800,000 Users’ Information
Landmark Admin filed a notice of data breach last week after detecting suspicious activities on its system in May. Landmark is a Texas-based company that provides third-party administrative solutions for life insurance carriers, Approximately 800,000 users’ data were exposed in …
Texas Pharmacy Owner Sentenced in $41M Health Insurance Fraud
Insurance Journal | October 31, 2024
Texas Pharmacy Owner Sentenced in $41M Health Insurance Fraud
A Dallas pharmacy owner who routinely billed insurance companies for headache sprays, pain creams, and scar creams never dispersed to patients was sentenced last week to 10 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas …
Louisiana DuPont Plant Fined $480K for Releasing Cancer-Causing Chemical
Insurance Journal | October 31, 2024
Louisiana DuPont Plant Fined $480K for Releasing Cancer-Causing Chemical
RESERVE, La. (AP) — A chemical manufacturing plant west of New Orleans has agreed to pay a $480,000 federal fine and install equipment to stop the release of a cancer-causing chemical from a storage tank and pipe. The consent agreement …
Former Principal of Missouri Boarding School Charged with Sex Crimes Involving Student
Insurance Journal | October 31, 2024
Former Principal of Missouri Boarding School Charged with Sex Crimes Involving Student
A former principal at a Christian boarding school in Missouri that closed in March amid abuse allegations has been charged with sex crimes involving a former student. Craig Wesley Smith Jr. was charged by the prosecutor in Wayne County in …
Louisiana Fortify Homes Program Waitlist Participants Upgraded to Active Status
Insurance Journal | October 30, 2024
Louisiana Fortify Homes Program Waitlist Participants Upgraded to Active Status
The Louisiana Department of Insurance said that the 400 Louisiana Fortify Homes Program (LFHP) registrants who were placed on the waitlist after registering for the fifth round of grants last month have been moved to active participant status and may …
Missouri Farm Cooperative Fined $241K for Lacking Proper Equipment
Insurance Journal | October 30, 2024
Missouri Farm Cooperative Fined $241K for Lacking Proper Equipment
A Missouri grain cooperative could have prevented an employee’s fatal engulfment in a storage bin in May 2024 had it followed federal workplace safety requirements, the U.S. Department of Labor determined. Responding to the employer’s report of a worker fatality, …
Farm Bill Becomes Lightning Rod in Wisconsin Senate Race
Insurance Journal | October 30, 2024
Farm Bill Becomes Lightning Rod in Wisconsin Senate Race
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde has repeatedly defended his self-professed lack of knowledge about the U.S. farm bill in the campaign’s closing days, after first saying in a debate that he is “not an expert” …
AM Best Removes Under Review Status of Iowa’s Pharmacists Mutual
Insurance Journal | October 30, 2024
AM Best Removes Under Review Status of Iowa’s Pharmacists Mutual
AM Best has removed from under review with negative implications and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of “a-” (Excellent) of Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company (PMIC) and its wholly owned reinsured subsidiary, …
Spain Reports 62 Dead After One of Century’s Worst Storms
Insurance Journal | October 30, 2024
Spain Reports 62 Dead After One of Century’s Worst Storms
More than 60 people died as eastern Spain was hit by one of the worst storms in decades on Tuesday night. The storm is “one of the three strongest in the last century in the region of Valencia,” the Spanish …
Former North Carolina Volunteer Fire Chief Charged with Embezzling $155,300
Insurance Journal | October 30, 2024
Former North Carolina Volunteer Fire Chief Charged with Embezzling $155,300
A former volunteer fire chief in North Carolina has been charged with embezzling almost $155,300 from his department by falsifying time sheets. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said in a statement that Brian Jason Edwards, 49, of Granite Falls, was …