Michigan insurance advisor pleads in fraud investigation, forfeits insurance license
A Michigan man has entered a plea on an insurance fraud investigation and agreed to forfeit his insurance license, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced.
Todd Bernstein, 67, of Birmingham, has pleaded no contest to four counts of insurance fraud, each of which are a four-year felony, Nessel said. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 16 in Sixth Circuit Court in Oakland County.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors said, Bernstein will be ordered to pay $107,918.13 in restitution and has agreed to forfeit his insurance license.
Bernstein, who was an insurance agent working in Michigan at the time, is accused of submitting "misleading information on annuity suitability applications on behalf of his clients, who were over the age of 65, to conceal that new annuities were being purchased with proceeds from early surrendered annuities," state prosecutors said.
The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services assisted in this investigation.
"Insurance fraud, especially schemes targeted at our seniors, cannot and will not be tolerated," Nessel said.