But those financial hardships don’t tell the full story, according to the 2022 study that has never been made public and was released to the Herald/Times after a two-year wait for public records.

The report, the most in-depth dive into the byzantine finances of Florida’s homeowners insurance market, reveals that as the insurance market was ailing and companies were losing money, executives distributed $680 million in dividends to shareholders while diverting billions more to affiliate companies.

Executives with most Florida-based insurers were removing so much money from their companies that they violated state regulations, the study’s author concluded.

The result left some insurers financially weaker — and potentially unable to pay claims — heading into the depths of the state’s insurance crisis.