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FBI investigating bankrupt Brooke Corp.
Published on -12/13/2008, 5:49 PM
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The court-appointed special master for the Overland Park-based banking and insurance services provider, Albert Riederer, told the Kansas City Star for a story published Friday that FBI agents recently carted off “a substantial number of banker’s boxes” worth of documents.
Riederer said the bureau had made an informal request for the documents before he was appointed special master and that he and his team of lawyers and accountants were cooperating.
“I can tell you that they’ve asked for access to virtually all of the records of the company,” he said.
FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton confirmed the agency was investigating but declined to comment further.
Before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, Brooke was one of the nation’s largest franchisers of property and casualty insurance agencies with 900 locations and almost 600 employees.
Founded in Phillipsburg, Kan., in 1986 by Robert Orr, the company set out to provide insurance services for small-town banks to sell to their customers. It later expanded into lending as it began selling its Brooke agency franchises, eventually moving to Overland Park and going public in 2003.
For more, see Sunday's Hays Daily News.
