File This Under WTF

Over in Rhode Island, a VP for Beacon Mutual (the dominant Workers' Comp carrier in the state) has been acquitted in a criminal case over preferential premium breaks for certain politically connected companies. The VP had been charged with failing to reveal to insurance regulators that Beacon maintained this "VIP" list of certain companies who would be favored with low premiums, but was acquitted because regulators had not asked for such a list.

It does rather beg the question, does it not, of how regulators would know to ask for such a list? Maybe regulators need to add some generalized, blanket questions to their market conduct examinations. Something like, "Please list any improper, blatantly unethical, sneaky and underhanded practices that you don't want us to know about."

I guess Rhode Island operates under a special kind of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for insurance companies.