The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, contends that Hartford Fire Insurance Co. and HSB Specialty Insurance should cover the stolen money because policies they provide are for “precisely” the type of cybercrime committed.
But insurers have balked while questioning whether the quasi-state agency, known as the Special Deputy Receiver, failed to follow specific policies and safeguards designed to prevent such cybertheft, according to documents in the case.
The Tribune disclosed in January that $6.85 million was improperly sent in wire transfers when fraudsters hijacked the email account of the agency’s chief financial officer and ordered underlings to make the payments.
Once the scheme was discovered in July 2021, two wire transfers, including one directing $2.1 million to Singapore, were blocked, but nearly $4 million is still missing, according to the lawsuit.
The special deputy receiver’s office is a nonprofit that works with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s director of the Illinois Department of Insurance and exists largely to protect creditors and policyholders of financially troubled or insolvent insurance companies. The suit was filed on behalf of the director of the state insurance department because that department works with the receiver.
The…
