It took less than two hours Thursday for jurors to decide that Georgia’s suspended insurance commissioner was indeed a “fraudster” and not an innovator, as they convicted Jim Beck on 37 criminal counts relating to more than $2.5 million he embezzled from his former employer.
The verdict was a swift end after testimony that stretched over parts of eight days. Federal officials began investigating Beck as he was elected statewide in 2018 as Georgia’s chief insurance regulator, indicting him weeks after the Republican took office in 2019.
Prosecutors presented evidence at trial showing Beck orchestrated a scheme to channel millions from the Georgia Underwriting Association through a series of companies into his own bank accounts. Beck managed the state-chartered private insurer of last resort for years before he took office.
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