New York authorities are attempting to interview an insurance agent in Texas as part of a probe into whether he sold phony insurance to operators of a Lake George tour boat that capsized, killing 20 people, a spokesman for the state insurance department said.

Mike Barry said the department is seeking to speak with agent Charles 'Chuck" Wegman. "We're not sure he's in Texas or Florida. We do have a number for him."

New York, he said, has been comparing notes with insurance regulators in Florida and Texas.

The investigation is the result of an accident last October, when a boat owned by Shoreline Cruises capsized and sank, drowning a group of older tourists--most of them from Michigan--who were onboard to view fall foliage.

The boat's owners said they bought coverage from Global Property Owners Association.

In Texas, spokesman Jerry Hagins said the Texas insurance department was involved because they had a history of enforcement action against Global Property Owners, "which is not licensed in Texas and we suspect not licensed anywhere else."

He said Mr. Wegman is licensed in Texas and had represented Global, which the department had acted against in the past to halt them from selling insurance coverage to nursing home and apartments.

"We would stop them and they would just switch to a different name that was sometimes similar to a real company name," he related.

Mr. Hagins said Global would enlist a licensed agent, who may or may not have known what was involved. He said they had targeted high-risk businesses and were recently trying to market their product to strip clubs.

In the case of the boat Ethan Allen, "we want to see if there is something we can help with," he explained.

In Florida, Jonathon Kees, speaking for the state's Office of Insurance Regulation, said investigators had previously checked on the Florida address given for Global Property Association, and "it turned out to be a drop box for the payments, and there was no way to find out who was attached to those P.O. boxes.

Special Reports /

N.Y. Looking At Insurer Of Boat That Killed 20

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