A Gainesville, Fla. insurance agent is being held on $1 million bond in a county jail, accused of pocketing $1.8 million in premiums for 20 fake businesses he allegedly started.

James Sirmans Jr., 58, who operated Rubicon Insurance for 24 years and Rubicon Realty & Investment for 16 years, was extradited from California after an arrest warrant was issued for him on June 3 by the Florida State Attorney’s Office, according to the Gainesville Sun.

After the arrest warrant was issued, Sirmans’ attorney told the Sun his client ran into financial problems when people stopped buying insurance and moved to California “to establish himself in another career.”

Sirmans admitted to investigators that he ran into trouble in 2007 and needed additional capital to keep his insurance agency running, according to a Sun report.

From that time to the present, Sirmans allegedly opened 21 businesses, with only one having any assets or employees. All the businesses were listed at his Gainesville, Fla., business address or his Melrose, Fla., home address.

Sirmans took out insurance policies on the businesses with Liberty Mutual and loans through Premium Assignment Corp., allegedly overstating the premium amounts in the loan process and using his account draft privileges with Premium to withdraw the difference and place the money in his personal bank account.

According to Premium Assignment, Sirmans had paid back nearly $700,000 of the $1.8 million, according to the report.

The Sun reported that Sirmans consented to a judgment of more than $1 million in a civil lawsuit filed by Premium and is the subject of a suit brought by Liberty Mutual in Indiana. Sirmans owed Liberty Mutual $40,000 in uncollected premiums, according to the sworn complaint cited in the report.

Sirmans, who faces larceny and fraud charges, faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.