Four indicted in $1B viatical fraud case
Five years after their company was shut down, four officials of a viatical and life settlement company have been indicted.
In a 25-count indictment, Joel Steinger, Steven Steiner, Michael McNerney and Anthony Livoti Jr. of Mutual Benefits Corp. were charged with, among other things, conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
The company raised more than $1.25 billion from more than 30,000 investors before being shut down by federal regulators in May 2004. More than 28,000 victims lost about $837 million.
McNerney and Livoti, both attorneys made their initial appearances in federal court Monday where they pleaded not guilty. Steinger and Steiner are expected to appear in court later this week.
Mutual Benefits sold viatical and life settlement investments through an international network of sales agents, according to the press release.
The indictment alleges that the company’s sales agents and marketing materials falsely promised investors “safe” investments in “secure” life insurance policies.
A viatical, or life settlement, is an investment in which an investor purchases the right to receive the benefit on a terminally ill or elderly person’s life insurance policy.
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Four indicted in $1B viatical fraud case (BizJournals.com)
[...] Mutual Benefits Fraud Indictments (Thanks to Life Settlement Fraud) [...]
We invested $30,000 in 3 viatical insurance policies with Mutual Benefits…HOW DO WE GET OUR MONEY BACK..Have paid into the stupid attorneys, and finally cannot do it anylonger for “upkeep” of the policies…so they took one away! We are both 63 years old, losing our house, divorcing because of loss of our jobs and non income! How and who do we contact…The agent was Robert Kelly in Broward Cty, who is in another line of work…broker I think…Please someone give us some names or what to do…thanks, Nick
Nick:
I’m same boat I was introducted as a mutual policy and then found out later in years I had bought into a life policy on some old male person, I invested 40k and didn’t know it was into a viatical , no where in policy did it state I was gloing to pay to keep my 40k, I ‘v paid in over 3900.00 for 3 years and now I can’t do it anymore, can’t even stay ahead on my personal bills, much less pay for this, still looking for a attorney and all 50 say GOOD LUCK, still looking for help,..
Same thing happened to my family. If anyone knows of steps to prosecute these people, please share! In our case, it is Fidelity Assurance Associates, lead by Brad Thompson, ironically appointed to the Board of Life Insurance Settlement Association, which also includes Bill Potoczak of Mills, Potoczak & Co. CPA Firm. They are all very well connected but don’t believe these people! They scammed my family out of $200k+ (their IRA’s, their house, everything). Now, they’re working with California legislation to pass a bill to protect themselves. The more I find out, the more angry I am. The SEC needs to go after these ponzi schemes!
Try Litai Assets in Florida….they are no running the show