Georgia insurance agent convicted of insurance fraud, sentenced to 5 years in prison, officials say

A Suwanee insurance agent was sentenced Monday following a two-year investigation by the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation’s Enforcement Division.

Enforcement Division Director Melinda Vigna said in August 2018 she had received complaints that 66-year-old Jeffery Alan Reichel, Sr., a Georgia Licensed Insurance Agent, purchased a minimum premium workers’ compensation insurance policy for his business, Core Business Services Inc.

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Officials said Reichel sold certificates of insurance as a club membership benefit to multiple business owners, resulting in those businesses believing they had workers’ compensation insurance coverage.

Vigna added that the business owners were never uninsured.

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According to the investigation, Reichel stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims who had the impression that they had workers’ compensation insurance coverage.

In October 2022, a Walton County Jury found Reichel guilty of felony insurance fraud and forgery in the first degree. He was sentenced to five years in prison, 15 years of probation, 160 hours of community service, and a $5,000 fine.

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Before this conviction, on Feb. 23, 2021, Reichel pled guilty in Gwinnett County to multiple felony counts of insurance fraud and theft by deception. He was sentenced to serve seven years on probation and was ordered to pay the victims over $26,000.

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