Former Georgia insurance commissioner sentenced to 7 years
Associated PressATLANTA — Georgia’s former insurance commissioner will spend more than seven years in prison, as he finally accepted responsibility Tuesday for a $2.5 million fraud even as a federal judge lambasted him for lying from the stand during his July trial. U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen sentenced Jim Beck to seven years, three months in federal prison, less than the 10 years federal prosecutors had originally aimed for, but more than the five years Beck’s lawyers argued was enough. He said he was swayed by Beck’s past life, but said the former insurance regulator still needed to serve a long sentence for treating this former employer “as his personal piggy bank.” Cohen on Tuesday belittled Beck’s testimony at trial, in which Beck claimed he had paid a computer programmer named Jerry Jordan for services to the association, but could produce almost no evidence Jordan even existed. Cohen variously called Beck’s testimony “outrageous” and “incredible” and “a bunch of malarkey,” saying Beck had “earned” extra time in prison for obstruction of justice.
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Former Georgia insurance commissioner sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to health care fraud
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$2.5M theft scheme: Georgia ex-official begins prison term
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Jurors convict former Georgia insurance chief in $2.5M fraud
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