Iowa Agent Pays $835K for False Crop Insurance Claims

After five years of litigation, an Iowa insurance agent will pay $835,000 to settle allegations that he filed false federal crop insurance claims.

The Justice Department announced Friday the settlement with Russell Hawley of Vail, Iowa, which avoids trial on the government’s False Claims Act lawsuit first filed in 2006.

The lawsuit claimed Hawley knew or should have known he filed false insurance applications on behalf of farmers who controlled land near Winner, S.D., in 2000 and 2001. The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation was required to pay $330,000 in damage losses and premium subsidies for these policies.

Hawley denied wrongdoing under the settlement, which allows him to continue participating in federal crop insurance programs.

A federal judge dismissed the case in 2008, but an appeals court reinstated it last year.