Court: Insurer Must Pay Massachusetts for Bonded Thefts

The Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled an insurance company must pay the government for its remaining losses from a $9.4 million theft from the Treasury in the late 1990s. The theft remains the largest loss of state money in Massachusetts history.

Attorney General Martha Coakley said Tuesday that Hanover Insurance Co. must pay the state $415,000, plus interest that will be determined by the Supreme Judicial Court.

In 1999, the Attorney General’s Office brought criminal charges in the case, and the people convicted were ordered to repay the stolen money. Several did not.

Before the thefts, the Treasurer’s Office had bought employee dishonesty bonds from Hanover covering several of the convicted employees. After the thefts were uncovered, Hanover claimed it was not required to make payment on the bonds.