Bradenton Insurance Agent Arrested After Defrauding Client of More than $200,000

January 22, 2016

In a January 5, 2016 press release, The Florida Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF) announced the arrest of Timothy T. Rush, 38 year-old, Bradenton-based insurance agent. Rush was arrested for allegedly stealing $224,600 from an unsuspecting Port Charlotte resident.

“In early 2015, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint regarding Timothy R. Rush after one of his clients suspected that the money he had been paid was not being used for the insurance annuities that Rush and his client had agreed upon,” according to DIF. After the complaint, DIF and Florida’s Division of Agents and Agency Services launched an investigation into the practices of Rush.

The investigation revealed that Rush was a licensed insurance agent in Florida and was authorized to sell Bankers Life annuities. Rush worked with a Port Charlotte resident to secure a Medicare insurance supplement and the client agreed to make payments on a Bankers Life annuity which Rush sold her. According to the investigators, Rush opened a fictitious corporation through Florida’s Division of Corporations that was used to open a separate bank account.  Rush then illegally deposited the diverted annuity payments from the Port Charlotte resident totaling$224,600.

On December 30, 2015, Rush was arrested and booked into the Manatee County Jail with a bond of $100,000 and was charged with one count of an organized scheme to defraud, a felony of the first degree. This case will be prosecuted by the Office of Manatee State Attorney Ed Brodsky and if convicted, Rush will face up to 30 years in prison.

Click here to read press release.