The California Department of Insurance (“DOI”) said in a statement that it launched an investigation after receiving multiple complaints, including one from an insurance carrier after a company attempted to file a claim for its injured employee under what turned out to be a non-existent policy number and the other from a business owner who discovered they had no legitimate workers' compensation or liability coverage.

According to the DOI, the investigation revealed that Rollins, while working as a licensed agent at an insurance agency, collected premium payments from several clients for workers' compensation and commercial general liability coverage, but failed to place coverage with any insurance carrier.

After leaving that insurance agency, the DOI said, Rollins continued to sell fraudulent policies under a corporation he registered with the Nevada Secretary of State, but never licensed by the California DOI. The DOI's investigation revealed over $20,000 in premium payments Rollins collected from his victims, either made payable directly to him or to FDR Presidential Services, were spent on personal expenses and not forwarded to insurance carriers to obtain insurance coverage. To conceal the scheme, Rollins issued false certificates of insurance, which listed the names of valid insurance carriers as the insurance providers of the fraudulent policies, according to the DOI.

Never licensed as as stockbroker

In addition to collecting premium payments for policies that were never placed, Rollins also allegedly presented himself as a registered stockbroker and accepted funds for investments from several victims. Rollins, the DOI said, collected nearly $80,000 from various individuals, including insurance clients, under the guise that he was investing their money in stocks. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a non-governmental organization that regulates stockbrokers and brokerage firms, verified that Rollins had never been licensed in any capacity to act as a stockbroker.

Rollins failed to renew his license after it expired in March 2014, according to the DOI.

Related: Miami insurance agent charged with creating fake insurance policies

Steven A. Meyerowitz, Esq., ([email protected]) is the director of FC&S Legal, the editor-in-chief of the Insurance Coverage Law Report, and the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc. This story is reprinted with permission from FC&S Legal, the industry's only comprehensive digital resource designed for insurance coverage law.