More than a year after he was charged, a Georgia businessman known as “Dr. Taxes” has been indicted for pos
ing as an insurance agent and swiping hundreds of thousands of dollars in workers’ compensation premiums.
Emmanual Torres-Cruz, 35, was indicted by a Colquitt County grand jury on 23 counts of insurance fraud,
the Georgia Board of Workers’ Compensation said in a bulletin. The board
did not explain if Torres was set to be arrested again, and the Colquitt Cou
nty Sheriff’s Office said Monday that he had not been booked into jail since last year.
The investigation began in February 2024, after the board receiv
ed a tip that Torres was allegedly misrepresenting himself as an insuranc
reportedly accepted premium payments for multiple workers’ com
p policies that he never procured with carriers, the board said.
Anyone who may have purchased coverage from Torres is asked to contact the board at (404) 657 7285 or (800) 533-0682.
The Torres indictment came two months after another Georgia man was charged with posing as an insurance age
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nt and selling falsified certificates of insurance on workers’ comp policies. In that case, the man was also charged years ag
o but was not prosecuted, according to court records.
Global insurance brokers Arthur J. Gallagher is suing two form
er employees who left to start their own New York brokerage firm for allegedly soliciting Gallagher clients and using confide
ntial information in violation of their employment agreements.
Gallagher claims that James Baranello and Joseph Siringo have violated agreements to not solicit or acc
ept business from the Gallagher customers they serviced at Gallagher for two years after leaving the firm and they also
agreed not to use or disclose Gallagher confidential information for their own use, or the use of another.
According to a complaint filed in federal court in New York, Baranello and Siringo joined Gallagher in 2021 and worked as a team on many accounts. They both resign
ed without 30-day notice in May 2025 and launched Cornerstone Risk Advisors in New York, according to the lawsuit.