Golden State Mutual seized by California regulators

Golden State, which has a large presence in South LA and a few buildings, is about to run out of funds, the latimes.com reports.

It has primarily served the African American community for the last 84 years. The company has agreed to immediately stop selling any new policies, state officials said Wednesday.

State Department of Insurance examiners, told the Times they had been monitoring Golden State Mutual closely for a number of years and said it is losing about $200,000 a month and was expected to run out of money by year's end.

A 2007 opinion piece in The Times lamented Golden State Mutual's decision to sell its collection of African American art for a total of $1.5 million at a New York auction.The company's headquarters in West Adams on Western and Adams still hosts a number of important murals by artist Richard Wyatt Jr.

Customers with questions can contact their insurance agent or the California Department of Insurance at (800) 927-4357

The collapse of Golden State Mutual will "send shock waves through a significant segment of the African American community, particularly older African Americans," Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said. "They came up believing that investing in Golden State Mutual was simply the right thing to do, that it was almost an act of good citizenship if you were black."