Following a decision made by the General Insurance Council of the Alberta Insurance Council, the provincial insurance regulator has fined former general insurance agent, Anthony Bentley, $5,000, saying the former agent allegedly created fraudulent insurance documents for non-existent policies and knowingly providing falsified documents to his clients.
“In the alternative, it is alleged that the agent made false or misleading statements,” the decision’s authors add. “The agent’s actions’ were deliberate and intentional, regardless of their motivation.”
Licensed as a general insurance agent in various capacities from December 1995 until December 2019, Bentley was terminated for cause in March 2019. Leading up to his termination, Bentley had been transferring an existing client book to the former agency which reported Bentley to the Alberta Insurance Council.
They say he did not have access to the firm’s systems, but had been granted access on occasion by the agency’s branch manager. Following a breakdown in that relationship, the agency asked Bentley to stop writing business until concerns about the quality of the submissions could be resolved. Following that request, the agency says Bentley continued to provide temporary pink cards to clients without the agency’s knowledge or consent.
“Applications and documents were not submitted to our office, so no policies were ultimately issued,” they write. “Instead of assisting to remedy the situation, we found Mr. Bentley was continuing to issue temporary pink cards without coverage being bound.” They add that a review of all quotes done by the office revealed that 78 clients were given the impression that they had insurance in place when in fact no coverage was bound. The firm’s solicitor ultimately needed to send a cease and desist letter to Bentley in January 2020.
In issuing the civil penalty of $5,000, the insurance council says given that the agent is not presently licensed, the matter of suspension and revocation of his licenses was not considered.
