Livermore Insurance Executive Pleads Guilty To Insurance Fraud

LIVERMORE, CA — The former executive of a Livermore insurance brokerage pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in fraud schemes that led to the collapse of Global Hawk Risk Retention Group and Houston General Insurance Exchange, two other insurance companies.

Jasbir Thandi, 69, of San Francisco, was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Thandi pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

According to court documents and the plea agreement, Thandi founded Global Century Insurance Brokers, which helped manage Global Hawk’s insurance business. Starting in around May 2018, Thandi and his other co-conspirators created fraudulent financial records, including bank and brokerage records, that falsely overstated the amount of insurance capital and reserves held by Global Hawk. These records were submitted to the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, Global Hawk’s insurance regulator. In May 2020, after regulators discovered the fraud, Global Hawk was declared insolvent, and liquidated.

Thandi admitted to misappropriating more than $1.5 million in Global Hawk funds for personal use, including the purchase of a house and a luxury vehicle. He also bought and sold stocks using Global Hawk funds that were legally required to be maintained as insurance reserves to cover future losses or insurance claims.

Thandi also admitted that in August 2016, he obtained a $6.4 million line of credit later increased to $14 million, on behalf of Global Hawk, which the company’s board of directors had not authorized. Around March 2017, Thandi applied for a second line of credit for Global Hawk for $14.75 million. This had not been authorized by the board of directors, though he said it was.

Thandi also admitted to engaging in a similar fraud conspiracy with HGIE, a Texas insurance company. Thandi and his co-conspirators created fraudulent financial documents that were used to create false financial documents submitted to the Texas Department of Insurance on behalf of HGIE. The false documents included bank statements and brokerage statements that falsely represented that HGIE had millions in insurance reserves and capital assets, when in fact it did not have the capital reserves required by Texas law.

Thandi is the fourth and final defendant to plead guilty to charges related to these schemes. Co-defendants Sandeep Sahota, Jaspreet Padda, and Gunjan Aggarwal all entered guilty pleas for the same charges.

Thandi is currently released on bail, and will be sentenced on Aug. 29, 2025. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.