A federal grand jury has subpoenaed the state work records of Jim Beck, the Republican nominee for Georgia insurance commissioner, just months before the election in November.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained a copy of the subpoena, dated June 19, which said that federal prosecutors had asked the state’s insurance department – the Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner – for personnel records of Beck, who was formerly associated with the agency. Specifically, prosecutors asked for “all personnel, employment, time sheet, compensation, disciplinary history and ethics records” for Beck.
The subpoena also asked for “insurance financial disclosure statements, requests for permission to perform outside employment forms, employee ethics pledges and any related records completed by or associated with Beck.”
The US Attorney’s office has not yet said why the subpoena was issued. However, the subpoena asked that the records be sent to Assistant US Attorney Lynsey Barron, a federal prosecutor, in the economic crimes section, FOX5 reported. The request also comes four months after the FOX 5 I-Team investigated how Beck twice held state jobs while also working in the private sector.
Beck won the Republican nomination for Georgia insurance commissioner last May with 59.7% of the vote.
“Jim does not know what this is about and is not in a position to comment on it,” Beck’s campaign said in a statement on the subpoena.
Campaign controversy
While Beck was campaigning earlier this year, he drew media attention after an investigation by FOX5 claimed he concurrently held government and private-sector jobs in two separate occasions. Beck took over as General Manager of the state created insurance company Georgia Underwriting Association (GUA) in 2012. During that same year, he also took a full-time state job as a victim-witness advocate for a district attorney's office in west Georgia. Beck resigned his position with the GUA weeks before he was nominated for insurance commissioner.
The same investigation also claimed that over a four-month period in 2005, Beck was a lobbyist for Nationwide Insurance while working full-time with the Department of Community affairs
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Beck listed owning properties valued at $1.5 million in his financial disclosure filed last March. Beck also collected $1.16 million in contributions to his campaign at around the same time – notably, nearly all of the money came from personal loans or donations from his bank account.
