California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has asked state and federal officials to investigate his allegations that an insurance industry representative threatened blackmail to halt his regulatory reform initiative.
In a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California and the California Attorney General's office, the commissioner sought an immediate probe of this "extremely disturbing threat."
Mr. Garamendi alleged that he was approached through political consultant Darry Sragow by an insurance industry representative, who said she would cancel a $2 million advertising campaign if he would withdraw his plan to alter the state's auto rate structure to lessen the influence of territory on rate-setting.
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