Ritchie Capital still associated with Life Settlement Fraud

I was reading over some news articles this morning regarding the bankruptcy of SemGroup and hedge fund Ritchie Capital Management owned a 25.2% stake in SemGroup. The article also related to Ritchie’s struggles in the Life Settlement Industry.

Ritchie has been a slow motion tank farm fire (formerly train-wreck) for about three years now, in a process featuring an endless stream of excuses for not returning investors’ funds, punctuated by restructuring plans of dubious efficacy, some abandoned along the way, a bankruptcy filing by two funds that lost an alleged $700 million in life settlement assets after partner Coventry First LLC was sued by New York State, a $40 million settlement for its involvement in the mutual fund market timing morass…well you get the general idea.

To find more info about the Ritchie and Coventry issues, read:
Coventry motion to dismiss granted
Richie Unit and Coventry Reach Deal
Life Settlement Hedge Fund Auction

Source: SeekingAlpha.com

AXA Files $73M STOLI Complaint in Florida

This is an update of the once popular but now basically extinct “Wet Paper Life Settlements”. This is where a policy is issued and sold almost instantly for small percentage of the face value (2% - 6%). We highly advise not to get involved in such life settlement transactions.

Article Below:

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. filed suit earlier this month in federal court in Florida alleging that several brokers, insureds and their trustees obtained $73 million in fraudulent, stranger-originated life insurance (STOLI) policies.

The suit was filed June 6 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Defendants named include Infinity Financial Group of Boynton Beach, Fla., and Steven Brasner, principal of the group; the Kevin Bechtel Broker General Agency; the Gary Richardson Broker General  Agency; and trustees and insureds.

The defendants, who have 20 days to respond from receipt of the complaint, have not yet filed a response. No one from the broker general agencies returned calls from The Life Settlements Wire.

Tim Bodner, president of Infinity Financial Group, said Brasner was terminated from the company in May 2006, and that Infinity sued Brasner when he used the company’s name and logo for his own business. Bodner said the case has since been settled.

The lawsuit seeks declaratory relief and rescission of five life insurance policies it says were “procured by improper and fraudulent means and procured for improper and undisclosed purposes.”

AXA says the policies were issued between July 2006 and February 2007 for $73 million. One of the policies – for $5 million – has since lapsed, the suit says.

The New York insurance company says that almost immediately after the policies were issued, the ownership and beneficiary designations were changed and the policies were put into trusts.

AXA is seeking to retain the premiums to offset damages the company expects to incur. It also is asking for return of more than $2.8 million it paid in commissions.

Related Links:
Life Settlement News - Life Settlement news, releases, and articles.
Premium Financing - Legit Life Insurance Premium Finance

Life Settlement Fraud

Welcome to Life Settlement Fraud! Our site is going to be geared towards fraudulant activities in the Life Settlement Market. We are a strong supporter of Life Settlements, and this site is not geared to bash the industry. However, we will bring to light reports of abuse and fraud that is affecting our wonderful industry.

Our reports will covers news, consumer complaints, and other displays of inappropriate behavior in the industry. We will work with brokers, providers, agents, professionals, and of course consumers and policy owners.

We will also strive to cover regulation and information regarding “Wet Paper Life Settlements”, Non-recourse premium financing, viatical fraud, and STOLI (stranger owned life insurance).

Continue to check back for future updates.

Also our firm, can assist agents and consumers in obtaining the highest offer for your policy. Do not sell your policy without exploring the option of getting offers from additional sources. We offer full disclosure on all our offers. Call 1-888-973-8377 before you accept any life settlement offer.