?Recent questions surrounding the financial stability of the insurance entity have triggered the department to open a formal investigation,? the department said in a statement.
An effort to sell off Brooke?s insurance operations also has failed, according to a member of a partnership involved in negotiations.
?We have withdrawn our letter of intent,? said Lysle Davidson, owner of Western Shelter Insurance of Johnson, Kan. ?Too many agents had been released.?
Davidson declined to further discuss the negotiations.
Brooke Corp. and a subsidiary filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Oct. 28. In the bankruptcy filing Albert A. Riederer, the special master appointed by a federal court in September to oversee Brooke, described a chaotic and hollowed-out corporate shell at Brooke with no employees left who have management experience.
Riederer was appointed in September as part of a suit filed by the Bank of New York Mellon, according to court documents (BestWire, Oct. 29, 2008).
Although based in Overland, Kan., Brooke at one time had between 40 and 50 offices in Missouri, the Missouri department said.
Efforts to contact Riederer and officials at the department were not immediately successful.
(By Alyn Ackermann, senior associate editor, BestWeek: Alyn.Ackermann@ambest.com)

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