Former insurance broker pleads guilty to theft

The former head of a Baldwin insurance company pleaded guilty this week to stealing over $800,000 in insurance premiums instead of forwarding them to insurance companies on behalf of his clients, Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said.

Joseph Koch, 57, pleaded guilty Monday before Acting Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty to second-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheme to defraud. Koch, the former president of The Louis Koch Insurance Agencies Inc. in Baldwin, is due back in court on Dec. 8. He has made partial restitution to date of more than $472,000, Singas said.

“Clients trusted the defendant, but he betrayed that trust and used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle,” Singas said in a statement. “Because of the defendant’s theft, his clients were left without coverage and were exposed to serious liability issues.”

Singas said that between May 8, 2009, and March 31, 2010, Koch was paid $648,074.13 in insurance premiums from a Queens commercial property management company which were not forwarded to several insurance companies for which he was acting as agent.

Investigators said that Koch spent the stolen money on personal expenses, such as purchases at retail stores, country clubs, gambling, Mercedes Benz car payments, income taxes, and home mortgage payments, according to the statement.

On June 26, 2009, Koch stole $10,572.56 from the same Queens commercial property management company as a premium payment made by the company for an insurance policy Koch never purchased on their behalf, Singas said.

The statement also said that Koch failed to forward insurance premium payments made by other clients to insurance companies and insurance brokers, including $51,244.50 to a Cincinnati-based insurance company; $20,000 to a Woodbridge, New Jersey-based insurance broker; and $2,525.40 to a Fairview Park, Ohio-based insurance broker.

In addition, according the statement, Koch stole $97,546.94 from a Florida woman, consisting of funds that were given to Koch for her benefit by three of her nephews and a niece to be paid out to the woman in a certain amount each month until the funds were exhausted. That theft occurred between March 30, 2005 and July 31, 2012.

Koch was arrested by investigators from the district attorney’s office, and charged on Aug. 30, 2012. In the course of Koch’s schemes, he stole a total of $829,963.53, the statement said.

The case was referred to the district attorney’s office by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Koch was arrested as the result of a joint investigation by the two agencies. His attorney, Anthony Capetola, was unavailable for comment.