News

Florida Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jeff Atwater, Marion County Sheriff Chris Blair and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives today announced multiple arrests in “Operation Christmas Tree,” an investigation into a series of residential structure fires in Marion County. The investigation resulted in the arrest of five individuals charged with organized fraud, arson and burning to defraud the insurer. 

On Tuesday, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Chair, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, Vice Chair, will hold a meeting of the Medicaid and Public Assistance Fraud Strike Force in Tallahassee. The 11-member Strike Force will present their interim report and the results of the survey of the agencies that are part of the Strike Force.

 Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater’s Department of Financial Services is hosting a series of free disaster preparedness webinars for small business owners as a part of Small Business Week, which began on May 19, and ahead of the start of the 2013 Hurricane Season. The webinars are part of CFO Atwater’s “Protect Your Home Base” initiative and are aimed at helping small businesses plan and prepare for a natural disaster.

Financial scams targeting the elderly is an issue that hits close to home, says Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater. His 88-year-old mother, who lives in Palm Beach County, is deluged with all sorts of shady solicitations. "I am stunned at the attempts," Atwater said Friday afternoon at an Operation Stop Adult Financial Exploitation workshops. The state's top financial officer is going around the state launching Operation SAFE to help educate how those 65 years old and above can protect themselves from fraudsters.

In a small room in a downtown Tallahassee office building sit mounds of treasure — some of it worth thousands of dollars and some nothing more than its place in someone's memories.

Florida's Chief Financial Officer is holding on to more than $1 billion of your money, and a new law is now making it easier than ever to claim that cash.