Ex-insurance exec pleads guilty in fraud case

A Little Rock man pleaded guilty to charges of theft or embezzlement in connection with health care Friday after he purportedly used a company-issued credit card for personal use, officials say.

U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer said John Mathis Lile III, 56, was formerly the president of Cosmopolitan Life Insurance Company, which funded and managed self-insurance health care plans for small businesses around Arkansas.

Lile was indicted in April 2013 for misusing the company’s funds. He appeared in court Friday before U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright and admitted to using a company-issued American Express credit card to pay for more than $300,000 personal expenses over a three-year period, Thyer said in a news release.

He used the card to pay for vacations to Las Vegas, Destin and Italy, restaurant supplies, cruises, tanning, Hannah Montana tickets and outlet shopping, among other expenses.

Lile agreed to pay full restitution to the company and serve a sentence of a year and one day in federal prison, which will be imposed at a later date.

The FBI and the U.S. Department of Labor led the investigation, Thyer said.

Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more on this story.

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