A Florida-based insurance company will pay over $30 million to the state’s hurricane fund after accusations of submitting multiple ineligible claims for reimbursement, the attorney general’s office announced.

Attorney General James Uthmeier revealed on Tuesday that Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company (UPCIC) will return the funds to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF). The company was found to have violated the Florida False Claims Act, according to the attorney general’s office.

Uthmeier noted that this marks the first instance in which the Office of the Attorney General has successfully recovered funds in an insurance fraud case. “Thanks to the exceptional efforts of Associate Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Weilhammer, Director Liz Brady, and Assistant Attorney General Andrew Butler, we’ve secured the return of over $30 million to the state’s hurricane fund due to fraudulent insurance claims following Hurricane Irma,” Uthmeier stated. “Hurricanes can devastate our state, and Floridians rely on recovery efforts to rebuild. Our office is dedicated to ensuring a fair and stable insurance market for Florida homeowners, which requires insurance companies to follow the rules.”

The attorney general’s office emphasized the critical role of the hurricane fund in stabilizing Florida’s insurance market during widespread or catastrophic hurricane damage. The fund reimburses residential property insurers for a portion of their payouts to homeowners for hurricane-related property damage, acting as a financial safeguard for insurers during major storms like Hurricane Irma.

An investigation into UPCIC revealed that the company had included numerous unrelated claims in its submissions to the FHCF after Hurricane Irma. “As a result, UPCIC agreed to forgo reimbursement for those claims, reducing the FHCF payout to the company by more than $30 million,” the attorney general’s office stated in a news release.

In addition to the repayment, Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company will pay over $4 million in fines and make changes to its policies and procedures, as outlined by the attorney general.

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