Thomas Corteville

A United States based broker who has been active in the onshore and offshore insurance markets for many years has pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.Martin Hoffman changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on one count

A broker who once threatened to sue OffshoreAlert for libel and who has been active in the Bermuda market has been indicted for allegedly defrauding the Clarendon Insurance Group of $9 million and causing it $20 million of losses from

Clarendon America Insurance Company is suing two US Virgin Islands-based brokers for $2.92 million of premiums that were allegedly sent to a firm controlled by Martin Hoffman, instead of to Clarendon. The lawsuit was filed against Marshall & Sterling of St. Thomas Inc, d.b.a. Theodore Tunick & Co., and Marshall & Sterling of St. Croix Inc. at the US District Court for the District of Delaware on July 14, 2000 before being transferred to Federal Court in US Virgin Islands on April 10, 2001.

InsideBermuda continues this month with the third installment of our in-depth interview with New York-based businessman Martin Hoffman, who has attracted his fair share of publicity since he entered the insurance industry in the 1960s and has been an active participant in the Bermuda market.

Dubious businessman Martin Hoffman has been soliciting reinsurance in Bermuda recently as a representative of First American Insurance Co., operating from New York, OffshoreAlert can disclose. And he is also operating another New York-based company called Wilton International Corporation, which describes itself as "a managing general underwriter and program manager that underwrites and manages international facultative property and marine business".

The Clarendon Insurance Group has terminated a substantial business production agreement with New York-based Eton Management, which is run by notorious businessman Martin Hoffman.

Anyone doing business with the Clarendon Insurance Group should take a close look at further evidence we have obtained which clearly shows that either a senior officer of the group is lying about its relationship with a dubious business producer or the producer is submitting fraudulent documents to the London insurance market. Either way, the Clarendon officer who may have lied to us, Thomas Corteville, vice president/financial operations of Clarendon National Insurance Company, seemed more concerned with attacking this newsletter than analyzing the facts.

Letter to the Editor of OffshoreAlert from Thomas Corteville, of Clarendon Insurance Group.