AP: Texas

10/18/2007

Associated Press

Felony charges were filed Thursday against two Texans accused of insurance fraud in Oklahoma, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said.

The charges, including conspiracy, racketeering and filing a false financial statement, were filed in Oklahoma County against Jimmy Warren Wolff, 61, of Arlington, Texas, and Rodney Alfred Williams, 73, of Fort Worth, Texas, the controlling owners of Oklahoma-based Top Flight Insurance.

Edmondson said Wolff and Williams are accused of transferring money from a second company they controlled, TriUnion, to make Top Flight appear to be solvent in annual and quarterly reports filed with the Oklahoma Insurance Department.

The pair allegedly bolstered Top Flight's books by issuing a check from TriUnion prior to Top Flight's deadlines for filing paperwork with insurance regulators. The next day, the money would be transferred back to TriUnion, the attorney general said.

The company likely would have been declared insolvent by the Insurance Department but continued to take in consumer premiums due to the false paperwork, Edmondson said. He said Williams and Wolff took in almost $4 million in premiums due to the scheme.

In addition, Williams and Wolff are accused of falsely reporting their real estate holdings to bolster their financial standing with the Insurance Department.

The company allegedly purchased 66 properties valued at $614,395, but the recorded value listed in Top Flight's ledger was $10.5 million.

"This company was shut down by the Insurance Department in 2005," Edmondson said. "Prior to that, consumers who relied on Top Flight for insurance coverage were unknowingly working without a net. In the case of a large-scale disaster, this company would not have had the financial holdings to cover all the assets it insured."

Each man is charged with one felony count of conspiracy against the state, nine felony counts of filing a false financial statement and one felony count of racketeering.