TALLAHASSEE — Florida regulators last month subpoenaed a Palm Beach Gardens-based credit rating agency. to force him to justify his “disastrous predictions” about the state’s insurance market.

Weiss Ratings founder Martin Weiss wrote in October that home insurers were “on the brink of collapse” and that homeowners were at “high risk” of not being paid for their investment. claims related to hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The Insurance Regulatory Office has requested that Weiss and his company turn over all emails, text messages and other documents supporting these statements by November 31.

“We take our responsibility to protect consumers very seriously and will not ignore any potential warning signs. » Deputy Commissioner Sheryl Parker’s cover letter states.

Weiss said he has not yet decided whether to comply. His statements, which have been posted on his company’s websitewere protected by the First Amendment, he said.

He said he has had a good relationship with Florida officials in the past and has offered to help regulators in any way he can. He doesn’t know why they didn’t ask for the information first.

“All they had to do was call us, just send us an email,” Weiss said.

Subpoena has been issued use a state law this gives regulators broad power to investigate the insurance market.

“The Weiss Agency claims to be independent and thorough, and if it truly wants to warn consumers about its sinister allegations, it should have no problem responding to this subpoena,” agency spokeswoman Kylie Mason said. , in a press release.

Weiss’ company financially evaluates cryptocurrencies, insurance companies, banks and other companies. Unlike most rating agencies, companies do not pay for evaluations. This financial model gave him more freedom to criticize insurers… a 1992 New York Times headline called him “the bad boy of insurance ratings.”

But its subscriber newsletters can take on a conspiratorial tone, like warning that the federal government would take over from the Americans bank accounts. In 2006, his company paid $2.1 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle claims, he misled subscribers about the performance of certain investments.

His company also weathered the industry during Florida’s insurance crisis.

Unlike insurers and the agencies that rate them, Weiss questioned the effectiveness of legal reforms approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which made it harder for consumers to sue insurance companies.

In June, Weiss released never-before-seen data for 2022 showing that Floridians Had the Lowest Odds of Getting Paid When Filing a Homeowners Insurance Claimwith more than a third closed without payment.

Weiss also noted that subsidiaries of State Farm and Allstate — two key players in Florida’s fragile insurance market — closed nearly half of their claims last year without making a payment, the highest rate among private insurers. He told the Times/Herald that insurers were “stifling their customers”.

Tuesday, the Times/Herald reported that Weiss calculated that state-run Citizens Property Insurance had the highest rate of closed claims of any insurer in Florida last year, at 50.4 percent.

Citizens did not dispute the data. Insurance Director Jay Adams told a citizens’ committee on Thursday that it “makes sense” that the company experiences a high rate of claims closed without payment because it insures some of the riskiest insurance policies in the world. the state.

Adams said the story was “misleading.” He said the high rate of claims closed without payment was due to high hurricane-related deductibles and denied claims resulting from flood damage, which are not covered by Citizens. He also said the company was receiving complaints from “confused” former customers who don’t know how to contact their new private insurer. He could not give a specific explanation for why the requests are denied.

Weiss said he stands by the statements targeted by Florida regulators.

He said his statement that the insurers were “abuse their power to refuse claims for damages as a deliberate tactic to conserve cash and avoid bankruptcy” was obvious. Insurance companies often close claims, then later pay out a lawsuit settlement, indicating that the claim was legitimate in the first place.

“Otherwise, why would they pay them in the future? » he said.

Weiss said that his October statement that Florida insurers were “on the brink of collapse” was actually an “understatement.”

“Florida is already in a state of collapse,” he said.