$3M ‘Under’-tow

Buffett firm settles insurance probe

Atroubled insurance company owned by Warren Buffett’s (right) Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to pay $3 million to settle allegations that it jacked up prices on unwitting customers.

Linda Lacewell, superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, settled with Applied Underwriters and five related companies over the sale of “misleading” workers’ compensation insurance packages that were pricier than expected for business owners.

“Today we are holding Applied Underwriters responsible for illegally operating outside of the department’s oversight to sell a complex product to hundreds of New York small and mediumsized businesses,” Lacewell said in a statement.

Jeffrey Silver, Applied Underwriter’s general counsel, “expressed general satisfaction with the outcome,” the company said in a statement.

Applied, for which Berkshire reportedly paid about $339 million in 2016, has been dogged by accusations from businesses and regulators that it skirts state limits on howmuchcanbechargedfor workers’ compensation insurance — typically one of the biggest expenses for any small business.

Ex-customers have alleged in civil suits that its products are designed so that small businesses end up being responsible for covering the cost of their own insurance claims — a topsy-turvy arrangement they say amounts to a fraudulent “reverse Ponzi scheme.”

The Post first reported in April that the DFS was investigating Applied.

The settlement, which doesn’t require Applied or its officers to admit wrongdoing, helps clear the wayfor an Applied sale, which Berkshire, famously run by Buffett, seen at left at the company’s May annual meeting, has said it is looking to do.

Last month, The Post reported on regulatory documents showing that Berkshire agreed to sell its stake to United Insurance Co., a Bahamas-based insurer, for an undisclosed amount.