NEW ORLEANS -- Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Doug Green has been convicted of federal charges of fraud, money-laundering and conspiring with crooked insurance executives who secretly financed his election.
The jury took about three and a half hours to reach its verdict, Wednesday finding Green guilty of 31 of 40 charges against him, including one count of conspiracy, three counts of money laundering and 27 counts of mail fraud.
U.S. District Judge George Arceneaux Jr. declared a mistrial for two fraud counts on which the jury could not agree. Green was acquitted of seven other mail fraud counts.
Green, elected in 1987 with a campaign pledge to rid the Insurance Department of corruption, will be sentenced at a later date.
Green was indicted in June 1990, a year after Champion Insurance Co. collapsed in insolvency and left $178 million in unpaid claims. The owners of Champion secretly had funneled more than $2.2 million into the election campaign of Green, who prosecutors said repaid the executives with regulatory favors.
Prosecutors said Green began plotting the scheme with the executives, for whom he had previously worked, 13 months before he defeated incumbent Insurance Commissioner Sherman Bernard.
One of the Champion executives, Naaman Eicher, testified he and his father, John Eicher, not only bankrolled the election but gave Green more than $4,000 a month in spending money during the campaign. In return, Eicher said, Green provided favors as insurance commissioner, including a favorable audit within days of his election. The audit allowed Champion to continue operating even though it was not paying claims.
Green acknowledged receiving financial help for his campaign from the Eichers but said he was unaware of the extent of their help. He denied cutting any deals with them, and said the Eichers tricked him into believing Champion was solvent with the use of counterfeit financial records.
Much of the money for the Green campaign was funneled in the form of loans from individuals. Prosecutors said the loans actually came from the Eichers, who put the names of others on them, but Green knew of the secret transactions.
Defense attorney Risley Triche argued Green was being made a scapegoat for the financial disaster. He said Green was betrayed by the Eichers, who took millions of dollars for premiums and put the money into secret accounts without actually providing insurance for their unwitting customers.
The Eichers previously pleaded guilty to state and federal charges stemming from the collapse of Champion and were sentenced to prison.
Green faces similar charges in Alabama.
