Joshua Casada
Joshua Eric Casada of Pine Bluff, who lost his license to sell insurance in Arkansas in December, was booked into the Pulaski County jail Thursday on 22 felony counts of theft, forgery and insurance fraud.
A press release from state Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr said Casada was accused of submitting 11 fraudulent premium finance agreements totaling more than $211,000 to the Imperial Premium Finance Corp. of Kansas City, Missouri, which does business as IPFS Corp.
IPFS sued Casada in Pulaski County Circuit Court in February, litigation that was reported in Arkansas Business’ Whispers column on Feb. 19.
“I commend the work of investigators in our criminal investigation and legal divisions that led to the surrender of this man on multiple felony charges,” Kerr said in the release. “Insurance fraud affects all consumers through higher insurance rates and the department is committed to investigating and prosecuting violations of the law.”
Casada, 45, incorporated Casada Insurance Group Inc. in White Hall in December 2015. He turned himself in on Thursday morning and was listed on the jail roster Friday morning.
Specifically, he is charged with one count of theft of property, 11 counts of forgery and 10 counts of committing a fraudulent insurance act. His crimes allegedly happened between August and October 2017.
The premium finance agreements submitted to IPFS were “taken out in the name of another insurance company on behalf of some Jefferson County farmers without their knowledge or for entirely fictitious entities,” according to the Arkansas Insurance Department release. “The money was then allegedly deposited in the Casada Insurance Group bank account.”
In responding to the civil suit that IPFS filed over the same premium finance agreements, Casada denied any deliberate wrongdoing and suggested that IPFS shares the blame.
“On several occasions IPFS mistakenly assigned premium finance agreements to Casada Insurance that did not belong to them and should have been assigned to other agencies,” Casada, acting as his own attorney, wrote in his response. “Casada Insurance made IPFS aware of these mistakes as they happened. If mistakes were made by the defendant, Casada Insurance Group Incorporated is more than willing to settles [sic] this matter to the best of their ability.”
When his license and that of his agency were revoked in December, Casada did not dispute the AID’s finding that he converted money ostensibly received for premium finance to personal use.
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