Lindberg insurance companies to be liquidated, NC court rules
The state Department of Insurance says the decision will allow more policyholders with Colorado Bankers Life Insurance and Bankers Life Insurance to recoup losses.
Posted — UpdatedThe decision comes more than three years after the state started questioning the whereabouts of more than $1 billion in insurance company assets within Lindberg’s empire.
Lindberg is the founder of Global Growth, a Durham-based firm with a complex network of insurance companies.
In Wake County Superior Court on Monday, a judge ruled that two of Global Growth’s North Carolina-based insurance companies, Colorado Bankers Life Insurance Company and Bankers Life Insurance Company, would go into liquidation, thereby giving several policyholders an avenue to more quickly get some of their money back.
In 2019, the North Carolina Department of Insurance put several insurance companies Lindberg had acquired into “rehabilitation” amid concerns over liquidity and ability to meet obligations to policyholders. The department this year requested that the court liquidate the two North Carolina-based insurance companies.
“This is an important step that will allow more policyholders to get more of their money back, sooner,” North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said in a statement.
Global Growth didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Payments are to be covered by the state guaranty associations, which back the insurance annuities largely at issue, much like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guarantees bank accounts. The guaranty limit in North Carolina is $300,000.
Causey’s office is still waiting on a signed decision from the judge but was informed of the decision on Monday, according to Barry Smith, a spokesman for the state insurance commissioner.
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