Selah Agent Gets Detention and Fine for Insurance Fraud

According to the office of the WA State Insurance Commissioner, a former Selah insurance agent has pleaded guilty to 1st. Degree Theft and Money Laundering.

 Former agent accused of embezzling clients' money

Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler announced that Jason Eaton will get 60 days of electronic home detention and a $100 fine after he pleaded guilty January 18th in Yakima County Superior Court.

Eaton, who formerly worked for American Family Insurance, was accused of siphoning off $24,162.24 from a trust fund used to store premiums from clients, which would then be transferred to American Family Corporate.

According to the Insurance Commissioner's Office, Eaton worked for the company as an insurance producer, and the policies in question were listed as being sold between July and November of 2019.

When AmFam attempted to withdraw the $24,162, they found the trust fund they were not able to. The company continued to provide coverage for the 33 affected customers, ultimately, Eaton did pay a small amount, but the amount owing was still over $23K.

He was then reported to the Insurance Commissioner's Office. The Criminal Investigation Unit (CIU) which is part of the Commissioner's office, did an investigation:

"Eaton’s license was revoked before CIU conducted a criminal investigation. During their investigation, CIU conducted a search warrant on Eaton’s bank accounts. Detectives discovered Eaton had been transferring his client’s money from the premium trust account to both his personal account and to other business accounts instead of allowing the premium payments to be collected by American Family."

It is not known if he is facing any other charges. A search at the American Family Insurance website no longer lists him as active for Selah or Yakima.