Insurance commissioner says it’s time to move on following guilty verdict of Jim Beck

ATLANTA — Georgia’s insurance commissioner, John King, is speaking out about Thursday’s guilty verdict in the federal trial involving the former commissioner Jim Beck.

King told Channel 2′s Elizabeth Rawlins in a one-on-one interview that he believes justice was served and is now ready to put this behind him and help the department move on.

“There is really a sense of justice to the people of Georgia,” King said.

Beck was originally elected as the state’s insurance commissioner in 2018 but was indicted on insurance fraud charges a few months after taking office.

Gov. Brian Kemp brought in King in the interim.

“We have changed this agency from top to bottom over the last two years. You would not recognize the agency that it was two years ago,” King said.

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Until now, Georgia has been paying for two insurance commissioners.

“The state of Georgia is no longer paying for two commissioners. We took him off the payroll within hours of the jury coming back,” King said.

On Thursday, a federal jury found Beck guilty on 37 counts of insurance fraud. During the nine-day trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Beck had orchestrated a scheme to embezzle more than $2 million for the Georgia Underwriting Association.

“I’m grateful for those men and women who served on that jury. We are all held accountable,” King said.

Prior to being elected, Beck served several years in the department, but King does not believe there was any fraudulent activity that went on while Beck was with the department.

“The governor gave me a very clear mission, get this agency back on its feet,” King said.

King told Rawlins that he looks forward to getting back to work and finally focusing on moving on.

Gov. Kemp calls for resignation of Georgia Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck Channel 2 investigative reporter Aaron Diamant got a hold of Gov. Brian Kemp's letter.

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