Three executives charged in Frankel case. (Briefing).

Three insurance executives have been charged in Arkansas in connection with Martin Frankel's alleged $200 million theft from various insurance companies, the Arkansas Insurance Department said.

Warrants have been issued for Tennessee residents Gary Atnip, Billy D. Williams and Wade A. Willis, all officers of the Tennessee-based Franklin American Life Insurance Co., the parent of Old Southwest Insurance Co. in Jacksonville, Ark.

Each officer is charged with a single felony count in connection with the illegal transfer of funds from Old Southwest, regulators said. Six days after Franklin American acquired Old Southwest, all three defendants allegedly signed the paperwork to transfer $5.3 million from Old Southwest's bank in Arkansas to a bank in Tennessee, depleting all but $19,175 from the account, according to the arrest affidavits. The same day the money was deposited in the Tennessee account, the money was transferred again to a bank in New York City, and then a third time into an overseas account, prosecutors said in the affidavits.

All three signatures were necessary for the Arkansas bank to transfer the money. The signatures, which allowed the insurer's deposits to be removed from the state without per-mission from state regulators, are illegal and caused Old Southwest to become insolvent, prosecutors said.

Atnip also faces federal charges in Connecticut. As the chief financial officer for the insurance companies that Frankel ultimately controlled, Atnip is accused of conspiring with Frankel to conceal Frankel's control of Thunor Trust, the entity used to control the insurers. Atnip also is accused of helping to hide Frankel's anonymous ownership of the insurance companies and allegedly concealing that Frankel secretly operated LNS Inc., the brokerage firm to which all of the insurance assets were sent and then allegedly stolen.