Jim Beck, the former Georgia insurance commissioner who was convicted of stealing more than $2 million from his previous employer, heads to federal court Tuesday to learn his sentence.
Prosecutors intend to argue for a 10-year prison sentence, they said in court filings. Beck’s attorneys will ask for a sentence of five years. A pre-sentencing report said Beck should pay nearly $3 million in restitution to cover the thefts and tax crimes, but Beck’s attorneys will argue the number should come down.
The hearing is in U.S. District Court in Atlanta at 9:30 a.m.
In July, a jury convicted Beck of 37 counts of fraud and money laundering, finding he had run a scheme to embezzle from the Georgia Underwriting Association, where he worked before winning his job as the state insurance commissioner. The case, prosecutors and witnesses said, was the result of a string of lies and betrayals Beck inflicted upon some of his closest friends and his cousin, dragging them into the scheme unwittingly. Among other things, prosecutors said the money that Beck obtained helped finance his campaign in 2018.
Beck, who was indicted four months after taking office, was suspended by Gov. Brian Kemp. The governor appointed longtime Doraville police chief and U.S. Army National Guard Maj. Gen. John King as interim state insurance commissioner. As Beck awaited trial, he drew about $200,000 in salary and benefits a year, the same as King.
The insurance commissioner’s office, though not a particularly well known agency, affects all Georgians. It’s charged with licensing and regulation of insurance companies, investigating reports of fraud and arson, and inspecting buildings to prevent fire.
For King, who is the first Hispanic statewide official in Georgia history, Beck’s conviction means King will face one less opponent as he seeks election to a full term in 2022.
“When the governor appointed me, he gave me clear and short guidance: Get that agency back on track,” King said Monday afternoon. “That’s what I’ve been focusing on. I’m looking forward to turning the page in this sad chapter in the agency’s history.”
Before Beck’s downfall, the folksy politician — who is adept at the requisite schmoozing — had been well known in Georgia Republican circles as an insurance lobbyist and the longtime head of the Georgia Christian Coalition.
At the underwriting organization, Beck used four companies to help with a project to verify that some customers were properly insured. Prosecutors said three friends and one of Beck’s cousins helped him, but they each testified that Beck hadn’t told them a lot of the money would end up in his pocket.
“I believed in Jim Beck,” testified Steve McKaig, who had been dragged into the case along with his wife Sonya McKaig. “I was taken advantage of by someone I thought was my friend.”
Though Beck deceived them about why they were doing the work, the McKaigs’ handling of invoices and promoting of damage mitigation was apparently helpful. Because of that, Beck could see the amount of restitution he owes shrink to offset the value of the services the McKaigs provided the underwriting association.
“The trial record established, at a minimum, that Sonya McKaig and Steve McKaig provided legitimate services to GUA,” Beck’s attorneys wrote. “The government bears the burden of proof on determining the correct restitution amount, including any offset for the value of legitimate services rendered.”
In court filings, Beck’s team suggests the McKaigs provided $237,000 in services, while a few other people Beck pulled in contributed $16,000 in legitimate work.
Beck has maintained his innocence and testified at trial, denying many of the government’s allegations. Beck testified he kept only 10% of the money the underwriters association paid out in the invoice scheme, but the government maintains he kept almost all the cash. That was one of many lies he uttered on the stand, prosecutors allege.
Consequently, prosecutors said they are asking for a longer sentence than they would have otherwise.
Judge Mark H. Cohen ordered on Friday that, to cover monetary penalties, Beck will forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars the feds seized from his bank accounts, including $80,000 from Beck’s campaign bank account.
