On May 31, 2017, Division of Insurance hearing officer, Kristina A. Gasson, entered orders and fine on Order to Show Cause filed by the Division of Insurance against Eugene Laronzo Bazemore, of Norfolk, Virginia, Robert Allen Christian, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Benjamin V. Fistel, of Miami, Florida. (“Respondents”).
In each case, the hearing officer also entered orders on each Order to Show Cause:
- revoking any licenses, including their nonresident producer licenses issued to the Respondents:
- ordering the return to the Division any license in their possession, custody or control;
- prohibiting the Respondents from directly or indirectly transacting any insurance business or acquiring, in any capacity whatsoever, any insurance business in Massachusetts; and
- Ordering the Respondents to comply with the provisions of M.G.L. c. 175, §166B and dispose of any and all interests in Massachusetts as proprietor, partner, stockholder, officer or employee of any licensed insurance producer.
The hearing officer also fined each of the Respondents varying amounts. The hearing officer fined Mr. Bazemore $1,000, Mr. Christian $2500, and Mr. Fistel $3500. All fines were ordered paid to the Division within 30 days.
All of the Respondents defaulted on the Order to Show Cause filed by the Division against them. The allegations in the Order to Show Cause that the hearing officer accepted regarding each of the Respondents were the following:
Eugene Laronzo Bazemore
Mr. Bazemore was a licensed Massachusetts non-resident insurance producer. The Division’s Order to Show Cause alleged Mr. Bazemore failed to report a misdemeanor criminal charge on his Uniform Application for Individual Producer License in violation of M.G.L. c. 175, §162R (a)(1). The Order to Show Cause further alleged that Mr. Bazemore failed to report administrative actions against him by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the state of New York that resulted in revocation of his insurance producer licenses in those jurisdictions. The Order to Show Cause alleged Mr. Bazemore, by failing to timely report those actions, violated M.G.L. c. 175, §162V(a) and that these allegations support revocation of Mr. Bazemore’s Massachusetts producer license pursuant to the provisions of M.G.L. c. 175, §162R (a)(2) and (a)(9).
Robert Allen Christian
Mr. Christian was a licensed Massachusetts non-resident insurance producer on the date the Division’s Order to Show Cause issued against him. Mr. Christian’s Order to Show Cause alleged that he had failed to report administrative actions against him by the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Maine, and Michigan that resulted in revocation of his insurance producer licenses in those jurisdictions. The Order to Show Cause alleged that Mr. Christian, by failing to timely report those actions, violated M.G.L. c. 175, §162V (a).
Benjamin V. Fistel
Mr. Fistel had been until September 23, 2015, a licensed Massachusetts non-resident insurance producer. The Order to Show Cause against him alleged that he had failed to report administrative actions against him by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the states of Vermont, Wisconsin, Delaware, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Maine that resulted in revocation of his insurance producer licenses in those jurisdictions. The Order to Show Cause further alleged that Mr. Fistel, by failing timely to report those actions, violated M.G.L. c. 175, §162V (a). The Division further contends that these allegations support revocation of Mr. Fistel’s Massachusetts producer license pursuant to the provisions of M.G.L. c. 175, §162R (a)(2) and (a)(9).
Note: Although Mr. Fistel’s Massachusetts license had expired the Division could file an Order to Show Cause and enter sanctions because under Massachusetts laws such actions “…even if the person’s license or registration has been surrendered or has lapsed by operation of law.” M.G.L. c. 175, § 162R(14)(e).
