N.D. Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Bogus Malpractice Insurance

A man who sold bogus medical malpractice insurance to Fargo’s Red River Women’s Clinic and other abortion providers has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering, North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman said.

William A. Ledee III, 63, agreed to forfeit $10 million in cash and property as part of a plea agreement in federal district court in Atlanta, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said.

Ledee pleaded guilty on Saturday. His agreement includes a maximum prison sentence of seven years and six months. He also pleaded guilty to selling insurance after he had been convicted of a felony crime involving dishonesty.

Ledee collected money as insurance premiums and spent it on homes in Hilton Head, S.C., and Dunedin, Fla., an office building in Marietta, Ga., luxury cars and other items, the prosecutor said.

He ran an assortment of companies that advertised medical malpractice coverage, but there was no coverage, no loss reserves or other assets that legitimate insurance companies must have, Nahmias said.

Poolman said Ledee solicited abortion clinics and the doctors who worked at them as customers. He sold “coverage” to the Red River Women’s Clinic under the Professional Liability Insurance Co. name, the insurance commissioner said.

In August 2004, Poolman issued an order barring Ledee and his companies from doing business in North Dakota. Laurie Wolf, the department’s director of agent licensing and investigations, had been scheduled to testify at Ledee’s trial, Poolman said.

“North Dakota was one of the first states to issue a cease and desist (order) and we have been actively participating in the investigation,” he said.