Legacy Benefits Corporation (New York), a recognized leader in the life settlement industry, announces a strategic partnership with Mofet Holdings, Ltd. to broaden Legacy’s role as principal in the origination and trade of life insurance settlements and portfolios. As
part of this new alliance, Mofet will acquire for cash a 50 percent interest in Legacy Benefits, LLC. Mofet Holdings is a subsidiary of Kaman Holdings, both public Israeli companies (TASE: MOFTH, KMNH), with investments in a wide range of business sectors worldwide. Kaman’s principal shareholder and chairman of the board, Roni Elroy, is an active director of the third largest conglomerate in Israel, whose chairman recently purchased the Plaza Hotel in New York.

Supporting Legacy Benefits’ strategic growth plan, the Mofet investment will enable Legacy to expand on its acquisition strategy by purchasing a broader spectrum of policies. These policies will be warehoused and resold individually or as blocks in the active secondary market.

“I am extremely excited about the future of our partnership with such a successful and internationally respected organization as Kaman. This new strategic alliance will enable Legacy to leverage its extensive experience and market intelligence in the secondary market for life insurance policies to assemble innovative investment products,” said Meir Eliav, founder and president of Legacy Benefits. “Given our years of involvement in the life settlement space, we have considerable expertise in policy underwriting and acquisition, as well as in the development of portfolios to meet specified financial objectives. This new partnership provides us with a platform to leverage fully our industry know-how, taking the firm to a new level with greater access to a full range of policies as they come onto the market. This transaction allows Legacy to further expand its access to the international capital markets.”

Eliav points out that life insurance policy portfolios or blocks have a greater market appeal than individual policies. “Investors are recognizing that the purchase of a block of policies minimizes ramp up and immediately generates fully realized returns because the portfolio
purchasing process is completed in a short timeframe. Therefore, the acquisition of a quality portfolio generates a significant premium. Legacy Benefits is now extremely well positioned to capitalize on this growing demand.”

“The life settlement field is expanding dramatically and offers a wealth of opportunities. We are now poised to benefit from this potential as part of Mofet’s U.S. expansion strategy focusing on the financial services sector,” said Giora Inbar, Kaman chief executive officer and Mofet chairman. “Kaman is particularly pleased to partner with Legacy Benefits, a well respected company in the life settlement industry and to work with their experienced and talented team. The future is bright. We are very optimistic about the opportunities ahead.” Mofet’s investment in Legacy Benefits represents their entrance into the financial services and insurance arenas.

Meir Eliav and the Legacy management team will continue to lead the Legacy Benefits organization.

About Legacy Benefits:
A recognized leader in the life settlement industry, Legacy Benefits pioneered this burgeoning specialty finance field 16 years ago and today maintains its reputation as an industry innovator. Since 1991, Legacy Benefits has specialized in the origination, servicing and management of life insurance assets for a broad range of institutional clients.  It utilizes an ever-evolving array of sophisticated analytical tools and upholds the highest ethical standards when evaluating and acquiring insurance policies for its institutional
clientele. Legacy Benefits was founded by company president Meir Eliav, a 30-year financial services veteran, who was a founding member and past-president of the Life Insurance Settlement Association (LISA), the largest U.S. trade association in the industry.

In 2004, the innovative firm became the first ever to originate a portfolio of life settlement assets for a securitization transaction underwritten by Merrill Lynch and rated A1/Baa3 rating by Moody’s Investor Services. In 2006, Legacy Benefits received and reviewed life
insurance policies covering over 8,000 lives with a total face value of approximately U.S. $12 billion.

Source: Legacy 

More Life Settlement Information: Life Settlement Info 

Fort Washington, PA – October 15, 2007 – Coventry First, the leader in the secondary
market for life insurance, announced today that it has paid  New York consumers $175
million for their life insurance policies. Had the policies been surrendered to the life insurance companies, the consumers, who are typically over age 60, would have only received $45 million.

Nationally, Coventry has paid consumers $1,850 billion. Had the policies been surrendered to the life insurance companies, the consumers would have received less than $650 Million.

Historically, consumers have had only one option. They could sell their policy back to the insurance company.  There was no other option, no choice. Instead, if they qualify, they can enter into a life settlement and sell the policy in the secondary market, where it will typically sell for an amount that is significantly higher than the cash surrender value.

“Life insurance is a valuable asset, and policyowners should keep their policies,” stated Alan Buerger, Coventry’s Chief Executive Officer. “If, however, for some reason, the coverage is no longer needed, policyowners should consider the benefits of selling their policies in the secondary market. A life settlement makes life insurance more flexible and more valuable. It makes insurance a powerful estate and business planning tool that enables the efficient reallocation of life insurance assets.”

Life settlements are typically most appropriate for high net worth individuals, businesses or trusts when the life insurance policies are no longer needed or otherwise not performing up to expectations. Policyowners should consult with their financial advisors before making a decision to sell their policies in the secondary market. The insured must be age 60 or above and the face amount must be in excess of $250,000.

About Coventry
Coventry bridges insurance and capital markets to create groundbreaking products for the financial services industry. The company is the leader in the secondary market for life insurance and pioneered the resulting life settlement industry. Fueled by bold ideas, impeccable standards and a deep understanding of structured finance and life insurance, Coventry has ignited a transformation by opening new opportunities for investors, consumers and the financial professionals who serve them. Based in Fort Washington, PA, Coventry is the first secondary market company to ever receive Standard & Poor’s highest
Servicer ranking and was ranked #1 in the insurance category of the INC. 500 listing of the fastest growing privately held companies in America.

Coventry will discussed in one of the first issues of the Life Settlement Magazine.

Two indicted men pushed bonds that were supposed to ensure ‘viaticals’ payoff.

By Dale Kasler

Pouring $430,000 into obscure investments called “viaticals,” John Wilson never wavered. The deal came with a security blanket: bonds issued by a Michigan company ensuring his payoff.

“It was guaranteed and insured, and there was no way in the world you could lose a dime,” the Paradise resident said.

But the bonds were pure fiction, prosecutors say, a scam perpetrated by two Detroit-area men who played key roles in an alleged Northern California Ponzi scheme that swindled Wilson and hundreds of others.

The two men, David Goldenberg, 49, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and Mark Eric Wolok, 42, of West Bloomfield, Mich., were among eight people indicted on fraud charges in August by a federal grand jury in Sacramento.

The scheme centered on a Redding investment firm, but the Michigan men were essential components, officials say. The bonds they issued gave investors the confidence to put their money in.

For Wolok and Goldenberg, the indictment is the latest in a series of legal problems. The men and their various companies have been dogged for years by lawsuits, disciplinary actions, multimillion-dollar judgments and a contempt citation, almost all stemming from their involvement in the world of viaticals.

They’ve allegedly pocketed millions from phony bond sales. Yet Wolok filed for personal bankruptcy earlier this year.

Their company, International Fidelity & Surety Ltd., has its home office in Michigan, but its Web site says it’s incorporated in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. In truth, it exists only on paper, prosecutors say.

“There is no company, it’s just Goldenberg and Wolok playing house,” said Michael Quilling, the court-appointed receiver who’s trying to recoup money for investors in the Redding case. Quilling is suing the pair in a separate case in Texas.

The two men, like all the defendants in the Redding case, have pleaded not guilty.

Wolok’s lawyer, Robert Joseph Peters of Sacramento, said Wolok mostly handled construction bonds. “It appears that Mr. Goldenberg handled the viaticals; he was the hands-on player,” Peters said.

Goldenberg’s lawyer, David J. Cohen of San Francisco, noted his client’s not-guilty plea but had no further comment.

The case involves Secure Investment Services Inc., a Redding firm that sold $25 million worth of viaticals since 2001.

Viaticals, or life settlements, are shares in a life insurance policy that was purchased by someone else but sold for cash. When that person dies, the investors share in the death benefit.

Besides hefty returns, Secure Investment promised safety. Bonds sold by Wolok and
Goldenberg guaranteed that clients would get paid on time if the insurance policyholders didn’t die when they were expected to.

“I wouldn’t have invested otherwise,” said Stan Finberg of El Dorado Hills, who invested $10,000.

The insurance policies are legitimate, and some Secure Investment clients did get paid. Wilson made $80,000 early on and invested another $430,000.

But officials say the Redding firm fed its clients bogus information about policyholders’ life expectancies. When the policyholders didn’t die on time, and the bonds turned out fraudulent, the scheme unraveled.

Secure Investment has known for some time of the problems with the bonds. The Redding firm, also known as American Financial Services Inc., sued Goldenberg and International Fidelity in October 2005 in Shasta Superior Court, accusing them of defaulting on their obligations. Secure Investment owner Donald Neuhaus, one of those under indictment, contends he spent $2 million for the bonds.

“It is Don’s position that he relied on them to do what they had contracted to do,” said Neuhaus’ lawyer, Bruce Locke of Sacramento. Neuhaus’ lawyer in Redding began warning investors in 2005 of serious problems with International Fidelity.

Yet Neuhaus’ firm was in trouble well before then. It was hit with a state cease-and-desist order in February 2003 for failing to register its investment securities. And officials say Neuhaus continued luring investors with phony promises long after it sued International Fidelity.

“Up to the day of their indictment … Neuhaus and his associates were continuing to sell viatical/life settlement investments by false statements and omissions,” says an affidavit by Special Agent Michael Woo of the Internal Revenue Service.

Locke, however, said Neuhaus believed he “was in compliance with the law right up to the time that they closed him up.”

Still, Quilling said Neuhaus should have known International Fidelity was a sham.

“A reasonable, legitimate businessman would have seen red flags all over this thing and would have realized a bonding company in Vanuatu and no audited financials … was not a legitimate bonding company,” the receiver said.

The South Seas connection dates to the mid-1990s, with formation of a company called
United Fidelity Corp. It was incorporated in the Cook Islands, east of Australia, and its principals were Wolok and his father, Sanford, court records show.

Just two years after it was founded, brochures distributed to viaticals investors said United had assets of $307.4 million, according to a suit filed against it by some investors in 2001. The suit,which called United a fake, is pending in Denver.

More legal problems quickly piled up. A 2002 lawsuit in Michigan accused Goldenberg and Mark Wolok of viaticals fraud. A cease-and-desist order in Florida said International Fidelity was selling viatical bonds and construction bonds illegally. Texas ordered the firm to stop selling insurance products.

Wolok and Goldenberg were sued in two more viaticals cases this year, in Michigan for $600,000 and in Texas for $45 million.

In the Texas case, Quilling, serving as court-appointed receiver, obtained judgments against Wolok and International Fidelity. The judgment is almost surely uncollectible, he said.

Wolok’s problems nearly boiled over last winter. The judge in the Denver case fined him $272,000 for contempt of court, for violating an earlier order against transferring property. When Wolok said he hadn’t remembered the earlier order, the judge said the claim was “simply not worthy of belief” and threatened to have him arrested if he didn’t pay the fine.

Just before the deadline, Wolok filed for bankruptcy in Michigan. The fine was put on hold. Wolok and Goldenberg’s next brush with the law came in August, with their arrest in the Redding case.

Other Viatical Fraud and Scam Links:
Viatical Settlement Company Pleads Guilty
Mutual Benefits
SEC Charges Brothers in Insurance Scam

HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ — From virtually no activity a decade ago, investment managers are raising capital on a global scale to invest in the new asset of life settlements. The result is an increasing number and value of life insurance settlements to meet growing capital demands, according to a new study by Conning Research and Consulting, Inc.

“We estimate that $6.1 billion in face amount was transferred in 2006, up from $5.5 billion in 2005. It’s all about investor demand in the life settlement market right now,” said Scott Hawkins, analyst at Conning Research & Consulting. “The current limits on life settlement market growth have much more to do with policy availability and consumer education than with provider capacity.”

The Conning Research study, “Life Settlement Market: Increasing Capital and Investor Demand” identifies the growth drivers and limitations in the market and explores the infrastructure supporting life settlement investors. It goes further to explore the emerging impact of this growing segment on the U.S. life insurance market.

“We anticipate growth of about $1 billion in additional life settlement transaction volume per year for the foreseeable future,” said Stephan Christiansen, director of research at Conning Research. “In seeking that growth, life settlements investors will need to be mindful of ‘criteria creep’ in candidate policies and resulting stress on profitability. On the life insurer side, as those annual transactions accumulate, the impact on in force business becomes a more significant profitability issue for the insurer.” “Life Settlement Market: Increasing Capital and Investor Demand” is available for purchase from Conning Research & Consulting, by calling (888) 707-1177 or by visiting the company’s web site at ConningResearch.com.

About Conning Research & Consulting

Conning Research & Consulting provides insurance industry analysis to insurers and industry stakeholders. Its published research includes market coverage of 30 segments of the industry in addition to industry forecasting and identification and analysis of major strategic issues. The Conning name has represented excellence in independent insurance industry research for 50 years. As a result of its wealth of experience and intimate knowledge of the insurance industry, Conning understands industry challenges and opportunities and provides in-depth insights and analyses on a wide range of industry products and issues. Conning is headquartered in Hartford, CT.

The problem with this article is that his numbers do not make any sense at all. An $8 million life insurance policy selling for $4 million, then a life settlement company buying it for $6 million, and then an investor buying an $8 million dollar policy for $8 million. Even it is a paid up policy there is not return on investment. Also unless this is the case of a viatical, there is no way they are selling for that price. Life Settlements are usually 10 to 40 percent of the face value. Article is below, feel free to post your comments as well.

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A banking lawyer who spent two years in US federal prison in the early 1990s following a racketeering conviction told a Cayman conference this week that failing hedge funds are fertile ground for money launderers.

Kenneth Rijock now earns his living as a financial crime consultant for the banking industry helping spot questionable investments before cash from those schemes enters the financial system.

“I’m afraid of hedge funds,” Mr. Rijock told the Global Compliance Solutions conference at the Marriott Resort on Monday.

“If I’m a money launderer, I’m going to look for some hedge funds that are very distressed and maybe even about to go under,” Mr. Rijock said. “And I’m going to be the angel, the saviour. I’m going to come in there and say that I represent some South African investor, or some other well–contrived story.”

“I’m going to put enough cash in (the fund) so that the manager can refund money, knowing that I’m not going to get a huge amount of due diligence (in determining where that money came from).”

“(Bank compliance officers) should understand, if you have a hedge fund you’re working with, and all of a sudden they have a major problem and then later, a huge influx in capital ––– I’d sure like to know what the source of funds is on that.”

Mr. Rijock said there’s been a lot of international press lately on problems with the US sub–prime lending market which has affected hedge fund investments. However, he said there are other investments hedge funds make in what are usually called “traded life” or “life settlement” policies which he considers equally troubling.

“It’s part of the reason why (hedge funds) are failing,” Mr. Rijock said.

To help explain those types of investments, he set out a fictitious scenario for conference attendees. In that scenario, the retiring vice president of a prominent US automaker decides he doesn’t want to keep the $8 million key–employee insurance policy his company had on him because the premium payments are too high.

The $8 million policy in Mr. Rijock’s scenario is sold to an insurance broker for $4 million. The broker turns around and sells it to a life settlement company for $6 million, who in turn sells it to an investor for $8 million.

“Hedge funds have been buying up these policies ––– because they know the returns are so high,” Mr. Rijock said. “The problem is, that some of the companies are marginally unethical and they play with these (life settlement policy) figures. They modify and alter some of these items, and some of these companies are just fraudsters.

“So you have a bunch of hedge funds (that) are holding assets which are not performing. This is fertile ground for some money launderer to get in there.”

Mr. Rijock listed failing hedge funds among the new areas which those seeking to launder money from illicit drug sales or other illegal activities may use to hide their profits.

Source: Cay Compass

Life Settlement Info and Life Settlement Magazine are both working on life settlement hedge fund pieces, keep checking back. 

Then, in 2005, the “Agents Insurance Association,” (AIA) a New York organization, contributed $5,000 to the NDGOP.  AIA shares an address with a “InsCap,” the major
player in the viatical settlement industry.  (Google the AIA and see if you find anything more about them than I did about them.  I found next to nothing.)

In 2006 — a year when Jim Poolman wasn’t even running for office — a “Sara Bachrach” contributed $25,000 to Jim Poolman’s political campaign.  The same year, an “Ira Brody” made a $15,000 contribution to the NDGOP.  Bachrach and Brody shared the same street address.  Brody is an executive at InsCap, the big company that does viatical settlement work of the type most benefitted by Poolman’s back-room handywork.  That’s $40,000 from one New York household.
New submitted by: Jared Hochel 

On August 24, 2007, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) published a notice that it intends to develop a new rule that would require viatical settlement providers and brokers to make detailed and comprehensive disclosures to viators regarding the terms of the offer and the compensation to be paid to brokers in viatical and life settlement transactions. A viator is an owner of a life insurance policy who sells the policy to an investment company, known as a viatical or life settlement provider, for a purchase price that is greater than the cash surrender value of the policy. A broker acts as the agent of a viator in a viatical or life settlement transaction. Viatical and life settlements are regulated by OIR pursuant to Florida Statutes Part X, Chapter 626.

Under the preliminary text of the proposed rule, to be numbered 69O-204.101, Florida Administrative Code, a viatical settlement provider would be required to give a disclosure statement to a viator and obtain the viator’s signature on the statement prior to the viator’s execution of a viatical settlement contract. The disclosure statement would be required to include the following:

- The name of each viatical settlement broker who receives compensation and the amount of compensation received by that broker. As used in this rule, the term “compensation” would include anything of value paid or given to the viatical settlement broker in connection with the viatical settlement contract.

- A complete reconciliation of the gross offer or bid by the viatical settlement provider to the net amount of proceeds or value to be received by the viator. As used in this rule, the term “gross offer or bid” would mean the total amount or value offered by the viatical settlement provider for the purchase of one or more life insurance policies, inclusive of commissions, fees, or other expenditures related to the viatical settlement transaction.

A viatical settlement provider would have to give the viator an amended disclosure statement if anything changed regarding the broker compensation or gross offer or bid. The amended disclosure statement would have to identify clearly any information that changed from the preceding disclosure statement. The viator’s signature also would be required for the amended disclosure statement.

In addition to requiring the viator’s signature on the disclosure statement, the preliminary text of the proposed rule indicates that the viatical settlement provider also may be required to obtain the signature of any brokers who receive compensation in connection with the viatical settlement transaction.

Although viatical settlement brokers have been required since 1999 to disclose their compensation to viators pursuant to Florida Statutes Section 626.99181 OIR has not required a particular form to be provided for that disclosure, and the obligation is not placed directly on the viatical settlement provider to ensure that the disclosure has been made by the broker. The disclosure requirements of the proposed rule appear to be aimed at preventing certain practices that OIR has characterized as “fraudulent or dishonest.” The preliminary text of the proposed rule contains requirements that are similar to the new disclosure requirements of the amendments to the Viatical Settlements Model Act adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in June 2007.

OIR scheduled a workshop on September 11, 2007 in Tallahassee, Florida to receive public comment regarding the development of proposed rule 69O-204.101. If you have any questions regarding this proposed rule development, please contact Wes Strickland.

Source: Wes Strickland

Call 1-888-973-8377 to discuss your Viatical situation.

The office said the Philadelphia-based company entered into a consent order requiring Coventry First to pay $1.5 million in costs related to the investigation. The company also agreed to audits to make sure it is complying with Florida law, and to provide the state with information on its number of transactions there.

Coventry said Florida “found no wrongdoing” in the case and that “no fines or penalties were assessed against Coventry.”

The company and other life settlements businesses buy life insurance policies from policy owners, make premium payments and then collect death benefits when the insured person dies.

Coventry was accused in Florida of “engaging in dishonest practices, including payments to brokers to not seek competitive bids, and payments to brokers not involved with specific transactions.”

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal

Learn more about Life Settlements at:
Life Insurance Settlement
Senior Settlement
Life Settlement Info
Life Settlement Magazine

NCOIL’s proposal differs markedly from the model act on life settlements offered by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). George Keiser, a North Dakota legislator who heads NCOIL’s life settlements subcommittee, wants to look at regulating trusts formed for the benefit of investors who take out life insurance on people they have no relationships with. Keiser says he wants to prevent stranger-originated life insurance, but not interfere with legitimate trusts.

The competing model act approved by the NAIC does not address trusts. NCOIL plans to adopt its model legislation at its Nov. 14-18 meeting in Las Vegas, so it will be ready to put its proposal before state legislatures next year.

Call 1-888-973-8377 to discuss life settlement oppotrunities.

A Life Settlement Broker can assist with the sale of your life insurance policy. 

The middlemen’s commissions matter because every dollar they get is a dollar less for you when you sell your policy. And you should know that people recommending this deal often tend to minimize its drawbacks because they stand to make a lot of money if you agree.

The fact that insurers dislike the deals is also relevant to you. Insurers are contesting claims from policies bought with nonrecourse loans. As a result, some life settlement firms will no longer buy them. That reduces the market value of the policy you intend to sell.

As for the privacy issue: Of course, no one can get further information from your doctors unless you sign an authorization. That’s why you have to sign one. You must give the buyer of your policy permanent access to your medical records.

Source: Newsday