S.C. Code Ann. § 38-55-560 – Insurance Fraud Division created; duties; powers of Attorney General with respect to insurance crimes and violations; duty of State Law Enforcement Division to investigate; funding

(A) There is established in the office of the Attorney General a division to be known as the Insurance Fraud Division, which must prosecute violations of Sections 38-55-170 and 38-55-540 and related criminal insurance activity. Upon receipt of any claims or allegations of violations of Section 38-55-170 and 38-55-540 and related criminal insurance activity, the Attorney General shall forward the information to the State Law Enforcement Division for investigation.
(B) The Attorney General, upon receipt of any claims or allegations of violations of Sections 38-55-170 and 38-55-540 and related criminal insurance activity, is empowered to:
1. (1) refer the matter for investigation to the State Law Enforcement Division;
2. (2) prosecute persons determined to be in violation of Sections 38-55-170 and 38-55-540 and related criminal insurance activity in a court of competent jurisdiction; and
3. (3) collect fines and restitution ordered by the court. Where considered appropriate, the Attorney General may use the Setoff Debt Collection Act to collect fines and restitution ordered as a result of actions brought pursuant to Sections 38-55-170 and 38-55-540.
(C) The State Law Enforcement Division shall investigate thoroughly all claims or allegations of violations of Sections 38-55-170 and 38-55-540 and related criminal insurance activity received from the Attorney General pursuant to this section.
(D) The Insurance Fraud Division of the Office of Attorney General and the investigative services of the State law Enforcement Division as provided by this section must be funded by an appropriation of not less than two hundred thousand dollars annually from the general revenues of the State derived from the insurance premium taxes collected by the Department of Insurance and/or from fines assessed under Sections 38-55-170 and 38-55-540 which must be deposited in the general revenue fund to the credit of the Office of the Attorney General and the State Law Enforcement Division to offset the costs of this program; provided, that the funds generated from these fines, to be utilized by either the Office of the Attorney General or the State Law Enforcement Division shall not total more than five hundred thousand dollars. These monies must be shared equally on a fifty-fifty basis by the Office of the Attorney General and the State Law Enforcement Division, and the balance must go to the general fund of the State.