Former Insurance Broker Sentenced to Prison for Massive Phony Trucking Cargo Insurance Fraud Scheme

ATLANTA - John Paul Kill, the former operator of Appeal Insurance Agency, LLC, has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for insurance fraud. Kill illegally collected over $3.7 million from nearly 800 trucking companies nationwide for selling/brokering fictitious cargo insurance policies.

“The defendant held himself out as an honest broker to hundreds of trucking companies, but he simply pocketed their premium payments instead of securing legitimate insurance coverage,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn. “His scam tricked clients into believing they had proper insurance coverage and endangered small businesses operating in more than 20 states.”

“I’m thankful for the diligence of the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens, whose office referred the case. “This investigation proves that when agencies like the Department of Insurance and the U.S. Attorney’s Office work together, bad actors will be stopped.” 

According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges, and other information presented in court: John Kill operated an insurance brokerage firm, Appeal Insurance Agency, LLC, in Norcross, Georgia.  He began offering cargo insurance policies to trucking companies in 2013. Kill issued policy binders to clients falsely representing that Lloyd’s of London would provide insurance coverage. In reality, Kill never brokered any agreement with Lloyd’s to provide coverage and instead pocketed the premium payments. Most of the victims received no insurance policies at all, and Kill instead attempted to pay claims for losses out of the premium payments he collected from new victims.

In total, nearly 800 trucking companies located in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia paid approximately $3.75 million in premiums for these fraudulent insurance policies from 2013 through mid-2014.

John Kill, 63, of Norcross, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Eleanor L. Ross to four years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay approximately $1.23 million in restitution to victims. Kill was convicted on this charge on May 6, 2015, after he pleaded guilty.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan P. Kitchens prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division is http://www.justice.gov/usao/gan/.