AmTrust and Ronald E. Pipoly, Jr Charged with Faulty Loss Reserves Disclosures
On June 17th, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged international insurance company AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. and its former CFO Ronald E. Pipoly Jr. with failing to disclose material facts about how the company estimated its insurance losses and reserves. They have agreed to pay a combined $10.5 million to settle the SEC’s charges.
According to the SEC’s complaint, AmTrust and Pipoly failed to properly disclose the company’s process for reporting management’s best estimate of loss reserves in its filings with the SEC. The complaint alleges that AmTrust and Pipoly disclosed the company’s general actuarial process for estimating loss reserves, but failed to disclose that Pipoly made consolidated accounting adjustments that did not properly consider the actuarial analyses and diverged from the company’s actuarial estimates. The complaint further alleges that AmTrust failed to disclose the specific factors or assumptions supporting Pipoly’s judgmental adjustments and failed to maintain sufficient supporting documentation for management’s best estimate. Further, AmTrust and Pipoly allegedly failed to disclose the loss contingencies created by Pipoly’s judgmental adjustments to the company’s historical experience. According to the complaint, by the end of 2015, Pipoly’s total adjustments exceeded $300 million and impacted all of AmTrust’s reporting segments.
The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, charges AmTrust and Pipoly with violating the antifraud provisions of Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933, and violating or aiding and abetting violations of the reporting, record-keeping, and internal-controls provisions of Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, 13a-13, and 13a-15(a). Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, AmTrust and Pipoly have agreed to permanent injunctions against future violations of these provisions and to pay civil penalties of $10.3 million and $75,000, respectively. Pipoly also has agreed to disgorge $140,000 and pay $22,499 in prejudgment interest. The settlements with AmTrust and Pipoly are subject to court approval.
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