A North Carolina insurer corporation willfully makes a false statement in a financial document filed under oath with the Commissioner. What is the consequence under the false-statement statute?

Why D is correct

Under G.S. 58-2-180, a person who willfully makes a false statement in a document required to be sworn or subscribed commits a Class I felony, and when the violator is an entity, the court fines the entity $2,000 to $10,000. This criminal tier is separate from the Commissioner's administrative civil penalties and is triggered by sworn or subscribed false statements.

Why the other options are wrong

• A) The $100 to $1,000 civil penalty is the Commissioner's administrative remedy for ordinary code violations, not the court fine for sworn false statements.
• B) The $1,000 to $5,000 forfeiture applies to willful violations of cease-and-desist orders, which is not what happened here.
• C) The corporation's exposure is a court fine of $2,000 to $10,000; the Class 1 misdemeanor applies to false statements in insurance applications, a different statute.

Memory hook

Sworn lies: person = felony, company = two to ten thousand.