John F. King, New Insurance Commissioner for Georgia

“Now, therefore, pursuant to the authority vested in me as Governor of the State of Georgia, it is hereby ordered that the Honorable John F. King is hearby appointed Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Georgia, for the term of office ending January 9, 2023. This 3rd day of December, 2021.”
– Governor Brian Kemp, December 3, 2021

Why was a new Commissioner of Insurance appointed? On December 2, 2021, former Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck reported to a federal prison at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, to begin serving a seven years, three months sentence for 37 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and tax fraud, through which he diverted over $2.5 million from the state-chartered Georgia Underwriting Association (GUA) into his own bank accounts. Prior to his election to public office, Beck was manager of GUA.

The former commissioner was under federal investigation before his 2018 election, and was indicted after taking office in 2019. After an eight-day trial, jurors found him guilty in less than two hours. In October District Judge Cohen sentenced Beck, but allowed him to be at home in Carrollton (electronically monitored) until after Thanksgiving. Then, he reported to prison.

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