A onetime Vadnais Heights insurance broker who invented customers and used phony Social Security numbers to earn nearly $650,000 in commissions was put on probation for three years and ordered to pay back what he stole.
Kevin Anthony Meyers’ sentence this week in Ramsey County District Court fell under a plea agreement he reached with the prosecution in May. The 50-year-old from Blaine pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and theft by swindle in connection with the crimes, which took place between 2018 and 2019.
Meyers’ led a “lavish lifestyle” through his “elaborate and long-lasting scheme that required a high degree of planning,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing in late 2023, when he was charged with six felonies.
According to the criminal complaint:
Life Insurance Company of North America, a subsidiary of Cigna Corp., reported suspected insurance fraud to the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau in January 2022. Cigna reported that Meyers, who was one of its brokers, submitted hundreds of supplemental insurance policy applications for customers who had no knowledge or intention of enrolling in a policy with Cigna, including submitting applications using the identifying information of people without their knowledge or consent.
An investigation by the state Commerce Fraud Bureau found that 401 life insurance policies he claimed to have sold from May 2018 to June 2019 never generated a premium payment to Cigna. Some of the Social Security numbers on the policies did not exist or belonged to people who had died.
Under the terms of his employment, Meyers was eligible for commissions even before customers paid premiums.
Cigna paid Meyers more than $600,000 in advanced commissions for the policies, and he used the payments to “fund his extravagant lifestyle,” the complaint says. His bank records showed he spent most of the commission payments on vehicles, airline tickets and shopping.
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Meyers, whose office was in Vadnais Heights, also earned commissions after reporting sales to employees of a company called Synergy Benefits Solutions. Investigators determined that Meyers was the sole owner of Synergy.
When confronted with his fraudulent scheme, Meyers failed to cooperate with or repay Cigna any of the money they were owed, prosecutors said.
Meyers’ sentence handed down Tuesday by Judge Sophia Vuelo includes a stayed prison sentence of nearly three years.
While on probation, he must pay nearly $617,000 in restitution to Loyal American Life Insurance Company and $1,000 to each of his 37 victims of identity theft, according to court records. He cannot be employed in fiduciary positions while on probation.
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