A Georgia insurance agent whose license expired a year ago has been charged with diver
ting workers’ compensation premiums from businesses and providing falsified certificates of insurance.
Lucy Margarita Suarez, 33, of Dalton, Georgia, was arrested in Miami and returned to Whitfield C
ounty, Georgia, news sites reported. Suarez, owner of EliteOne Solutions in Dalton, is charged with insurance fraud and forgery, the state Board of Workers’ Compen
sation told news outlets.
The board’s investigation found that the alleged premium theft left clients without comp cov
erage. More victims and additional charges may be added as the investigation continues.
Georgia’s license records show that Suarez was licensed as a property and casualty agent in 2
014, and the license expired in April 2025. She was appointed with som
e two dozen carriers, including two large, Florida-based property insurance companies.
Her agency was licensed in 2018, with an expiration date in 2027. Georgia corporation records show EliteOne was incorporated in 2018 and dissolved in 2024.
A phone number and email address listed for EliteOne were not in service Friday morning, and Suarez could not be reached.
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Tampa-based HCI Group, now in its 20th year and its 18th year as a publicly traded comp
any, reported a healthy profit for the first quarter of 2026 and significant growth in premium
across most of its property/casualty insurance firms.
“HCI Group had an excellent start to 2026, delivering record first quarter results for earned
premiums, net income and earnings per share,” HCI Group Chairman and CEO Paresh Patel said in a fili
ng with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The group reported net income of $85 million for Q1. That’s down significantly from the $1
08 million for Q4 2025 but up from the first quarter of 2025.
HCI reported modest to strong first-quarter growth in gross premiums earned for three of its insurance carriers: Homeowners Choice, TypTap Insur
ance, and Tailrow Insurance Exchange. A fourth insurer, Condo Owners Reciprocal Exchange, saw gross premium earned drop sharply from Q1 2025. It was th
e second straight quarterly drop in premium for the condo insurer, also known as CORE.
