September 1989 Hugo hit and I was working for a very large commercial insurance company, CIGNA P&C with HO in Philadelphia. They insured almost every commercial and residential insurance policy on St Croix. Including a huge refinery HESS Oil. The amount of damage was catastrophic to put it mildly. 100% of every structure on the island had some damage. 75% had their roof damaged and 50% were total losses.
The only thing that kept the Company from going bankrupt was the Re-Insurance policies, mostly Swiss banks and some Lloyds of London.
To handle such an incident the company had to bring in International Claims Adjusters from all over the world. I was on the International and Domestic Catastrophe team so I got the call. Men and women came from Europe, South America, South Korea, Australia, the South Pacific. You name it. They all had a different work ethic and culture.
When I arrived a small spot had been cleared at the St Croix airport to land planes. As we landed you could see small planes in trees, on the beaches, in the water and debris everywhere. Not a single leaf remained on any tree and not a single bird was on the island. Food was flown in for us to eat, it reminded me of war time rations you would get during WWII. We had daily flights to San Juan to pick up supplies.
But what happened after all of this was eye opening to me. The agent who wrote the business had an office in San Juan, PR and St Thomas, VI. He had cut deals with contractors and was getting a "Biden Kickback" on all estimates and repair costs. It totaled in the millions and was hidden away in secret accounts. Everything under the table and hidden in the repair estimates prepared by his contractors.
The rooms at the Buccaneer were billed to CIGNA but the most outlandish was the "open bar". Alcohol, all you could drink was available for the asking. It was party time from early evening to early in the AM, every night. And these international guys could drink and they did. Especially the Europeans . One German and another man from Ireland must have set records.
I was the ranking employee on the Cat Team from the States and knew all of the Big Brass at HO. I got a call one day from the Director asking me about a $900,000 bill he had received. it later grew to $975,000 I had no idea what he was talking about. He told me to meet with the management of the hotel and find out what was going on. When I sat down the hotel manager wanted me to sign for it and I refused. There was no way I was putting my signature on anything with the Buccaneer.
After things settled down, an investigation started, criminal charges were made and several people went to prison. This was a private company and government employee protection did not apply. They went to jail.
