Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple (pictured) has announced that Metairie‑based surety bond producer Alexander Ellsworth and his agency, Ellsworth Corporation, will refund more than $1.2 million in premiums and pay a $250,000 fine after fraudulently charging clients more than the lawful premiums quoted by insurers.
The penalty is the maximum civil fine permitted under Louisiana law in this context and follows a cease‑and‑desist order and notice of revocation and fine first issued in June 2023. That action had been under appeal until the parties reached an agreement on Jan. 28, 2026.
According to the Louisiana Department of Insurance (LDI), Ellsworth and his agency added unlawful fees on top of the premiums approved and quoted by surety carriers, effectively overcharging construction clients that relied on the firm to place required commercial surety bonds.
“Construction companies require commercial surety bonds before beginning construction projects and rely on licensed agents to lawfully and fairly handle their policy transactions with insurance companies,” Temple said. “For an agent to profit from breaking Louisiana’s insurance laws violates that trust and will not be tolerated. I appreciate the good work of the Louisiana Department of Insurance Office of Insurance Fraud in investigating this matter.”
The case sits against a broader backdrop in which insurance fraud is a persistent, material issue in Louisiana, particularly in lines tied to construction, transportation, and catastrophe‑exposed property. The state’s combination of heavy storm and hurricane exposure, a large contractor base, and historically elevated auto and bodily injury claim activity means that fraud risk is “baked in” to many carriers’ pricing assumptions.
Within that, producer and agency misconduct is a recurring theme for the LDI’s Office of Insurance Fraud. Common patterns include premium diversion, bogus or inflated service charges, misuse of client funds, and the kind of unauthorized fee‑loading seen in the Ellsworth matter. Commercial surety and construction‑related business is a particular focus, given contractors’ dependence on bonds and certificates to start work and the potential for intermediaries to exploit that dependency.
LDI’s fraud unit routinely uses cease‑and‑desist orders, license revocations, restitution, and maximum fines alongside referrals for criminal prosecution where appropriate. Actions like the Ellsworth settlement are designed both to make affected policyholders whole and to send a deterrent message to other producers and agencies tempted to “mark up” filed and approved premiums or disguise extra compensation as pass‑through fees.
