This much I know, having done work for the insurance brokerage industry: At the level practiced by The Hays Companies, it's a demanding business that employs very smart people. Founder Jim Hays is one of them.
The Hays Companies employed an actress and entrepreneur named Laurie Coleman as an independent consultant. I suppose a very good actress might be able to act smart about such topics as reinsurance and risk management.
A business lawsuit* filed in Texas revealed that a friend of Senator Norm Coleman pressured a company to pay Hays for insurance services it didn’t need, with the alleged implied intent of funneling the money to Coleman through his wife.
Without addressing whether it had an actual business relationship with the Texas company, Hays jumps to Laurie Coleman's (and its own) defense with an aggressive but opaque statement: “We find any
allegations that she accepted money for work she was not responsible
for to be outrageous and contemptible.”
As the Mississippifarian astutely observes:
Read that statement as often as you like, it does NOT say that Laurie Coleman did any work for Hays Companies, only that she was given money for work for which she was responsible. Did she do that work? These statements aren’t blurted out, they’re drafted and reviewed by corporate counsel so if they use odd wording to avoid saying something, there’s probably good reason for that.
Hays Companies doesn't say exactly how it pays other people, but it does have a disclosure statement about how it gets paid. Its sources of compensation include:
- Client Fees
- Regular Commissions
- Contingent Commissions and Other Incentive Payments
- Interest Income
The company says: "This synopsis provides an overview of our general compensation practices. Because it is only a general overview, there may be exceptions not addressed above."
UPDATE: And in case you didn't click the link* to the PiPress story:
The Hays Cos. — the Minneapolis risk-management company where Laurie Coleman is a contractor — said it does have an arrangement with Deep Marine, but that it's above-board and that Laurie Coleman has never received any compensation related to it. She has held a Minnesota license to broker insurance since 2006, and it's always been in good standing, according to the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
There's also no suggestion that Coleman knew of any arrangement that may have involved the friend, the Texas company and Hays. Personally, I do not think Coleman is corrupt, but he works in a system that is subject to corruption. We'll have to see how this unfolds.
