WADENA, Minn. — Former Wadena, Minn., insurance agency owner and agent John D. Paulson has been charged in U.S. District Court in the theft of over $500,000 in insurance premiums from clients, according to court documents.
The charges include two counts of mail fraud in connection with the thefts from 2011 until 2018.
The indictment against Paulson said he falsely represented to his clients that he would pay over their premiums to the insurance companies while he served as owner of David Paulson Agency.
“Instead he converted much of the money he collected from his clients to his own use,” according to the complaint. "This left his clients either owing large amounts to their insurance companies or without the insurance policies they were paying Paulson to obtain." It also claims he provided fake invoices to clients that fraudulently inflated the amount of money they owed to the insurance companies.
The indictment states that in total he stole about $524,000 and used the money to pay his mortgage and personal credit card bills.
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Paulson most recently moved to Colorado, according to his workplace profile, where he was listed as a commercial sales executive for ALINK Insurance Services When contacted Wednesday, Paulson said he was unaware of the charges against him and had no comment.
