Okla. Agency in Conservatorship:

The Oklahoma Insurance Department announced that Aviation Insurance Group Agency Inc. of Bethany, was placed in conservatorship by Oklahoma County District Court Judge Leamon Freeman. The agency is accused of deceiving its clients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Aviation was previously placed under supervision following accusations of hiding money from people who bought insurance through the agency even though they were due refunds that had been paid by the insurance companies it represented. Freeman’s order allows the department to run the agency. According to the OID, repeated calls to the agency’s owner asking her to sign payroll and other checks have gone unanswered. In addition, Aviation officials sued an Oklahoma City bank for honoring a request by the department to cover payroll checks issued July 11. Testimony at the hearing indicated Shirley Porter-Hart, president of the group, was unable to sign the payroll checks due to family illness. In making his ruling, Freeman found public welfare would be jeopardized by waiting until an already scheduled Aug. 28 hearing on the agency’s status. In addition to payroll checks, Porter-Hart has not signed checks forwarding premium money to insurance companies on behalf of their clients.