The former chief executive officer of a defunct Denver-based insurance brokerage has been sentenced to five years probation for theft and ordered to pay $353,445 in restitution for embezzling insurance premium money.
Barney T. Lyles, 59, who now resides in Makaha, Hawaii, was the CEO of BLIS International Group, an insurance broker business that promoted and sold stop-loss insurance coverage.
Stop-loss coverage covers medical expenses associated with catastrophic illness that exceed specific amounts or limits, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.
According to an indictment returned by the federal grand jury in Denver, Lyles and Brandon T. Ser Voss, 38, BLIS’ chief financial officer, embezzled more than $353,400 in health insurance premiums that were paid by companies to BLIS.
BLIS, in turn, was supposed to pay the money paid to it by its client companies to insurance carriers for the stop-loss insurance.
However, according to the grand jury, Lyles and Ser Voss spent the money on themselves.
Ser Voss pleaded guilty on July 10, 2009, and received the same sentence that Lyles received last Friday – five years probation and restitution of $353,445 in restitution to be paid jointly and severally with Lyles.
Ser Voss currently lives in Elgin, Illinois.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
