Five Former Tennessee Insurance Producers Face Fines, License Revocation
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) announces disciplinary actions against five former Tennessee insurance producers who violated various provisions of Tennessee law.
Former insurance producers Timothy Lane Pilkington, Ronald V. Pullman, Scott Rolin, William John Statile, and Arturo Villavicencio have been ordered to pay civil penalties as a result of their violations of law and their insurance producer licenses have been revoked.
“Our primary purpose is the protection of insurance consumers who should be able to trust that their insurance producers are looking out for the consumers’ interests,” said TDCI Assistant Commissioner for Insurance Michael Humphreys. “For that to happen, we must take decisive action against those who seek to deceive or cheat consumers or the state. Today’s announcement represents several months of work by our Fraud and Legal teams. We’re proud to close these cases for the benefit of all Tennesseans. Insurance consumers should always feel free to contact the Department if something just doesn’t seem right.”
Details of the cases include:
Timothy Lane Pilkington (Covington, Tenn.): Following a hearing on March 9, 2017, an Administrative Law Judge issued an Initial Order on May 10, 2017, which became a Final Order on May 25, 2017. The Order revoked Pilkington’s producer license and assessed a civil penalty of $4,000 to the Insurance Division. Pilkington was found to have provided incorrect, misleading, incomplete, or materially untrue information on seven insurance license producer applications by failing to report that the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation filed an “Order of Prohibition” against him, which disqualified him from participating in the insurance and securities industries.
Ronald V. Pullman (Carnegie, Pa.): As a result of a hearing held on July 27, 2017, an Administrative Law Judge issued an Initial Order on August 25, 2017, which became a Final Order on September 11, 2017. The Order revoked Pullman’s Tennessee insurance producer license and issued a $55,000 civil penalty. Pullman was found to have engaged in fraudulent, coercive, incompetent, dishonest, and untrustworthy conduct with two separate clients and intentionally misrepresented terms of insurance policies. Additionally, Pullman was found to have engaged in unfair trade practices by charging a client hourly fees and expenses which were additional to his customary commission and by offering an expenses-paid trip as an inducement to purchase and maintain insurance policies.
Scott Rolin (Franklin, Tenn.): As a result of a hearing held on May 16, 2017, an Administrative Law Judge issued an Initial Order on August 2, 2017, which became a Final Order on August 17, 2017. The Order revoked Rolin’s Tennessee insurance producer license and assessed a $5,000 civil penalty. Rolin was found to have failed to report to the Commissioner his federal criminal prosecution within 30 days of the initial pretrial hearing date. The judge further found that Rolin committed fraud in the conduct of his insurance business in Tennessee and forged the endorsement of one of his clients on insurance company checks.
William John Statile (Escondido, Calif.): On December 5, 2016, an Administrative Law Judge issued an Initial Order as a result of a hearing on May 18, 2017. The order became final on June 2, 2017. The order revoked Statile’s producer license, permanently barred him from conducting insurance related business in Tennessee, and assessed a civil penalty of $11,000 for misrepresenting the terms of an insurance product, falsifying information on an application for an insurance product, and misrepresenting himself as a licensed attorney.
Arturo Villavicencio (Cordova, Tenn.): Following a hearing on May 8, 2017, an Administrative Law Judge issued an Initial Order on August 3, 2017, which became a Final Order on August 18, 2017. The Order revoked Villavicencio’s producer license and assessed a civil penalty of $18,000 for misappropriating premiums on eighteen separate occasions.
The sanctions were the result of the work of TDCI’s Insurance Fraud Investigations team and the Office of General Counsel who ensure the protection of Tennesseans by holding accountable insurance producers who are engaged in unlawful activity.
Copies of the above disciplinary actions are available for review here.
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