Word: lifes
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Then in 1996 Congress made the proceeds from most viatical settlements tax exempt, and the business really took off. Increasing numbers of terminally ill people, including those suffering from cancer or heart disease, have sold their life-insurance policies to enjoy their death benefits while they're still alive. This year alone, more than $1 billion in viatical settlements, only about half related to AIDS, will be brokered, according to the National Viatical Association (NVA), roughly 20 times as much as when the business began. Relatively healthy elderly people are also hawking their policies for some additional income; $3 billion...
...Trust, for allegedly defrauding thousands of viatical investors across the country in an elaborate, $115 million Ponzi scheme. Brandau's attorney denies the allegations. Just a month ago, two officers of Justus Viatical, a Pompano Beach, Fla., firm, were charged with selling investors $2 million worth of fraudulently obtained life-insurance policies. Their lawyer calls the indictment a farce. And insurance heavyweights like American General and John Hancock Mutual Life have recently fought in the courts to rescind bogus policies...
...predictability of death, which has proved to be singularly unpredictable," says Bill McDonald, chief of enforcement for the California Department of Corporations, who thinks viaticals may need to be outlawed. In Florida, Mutual Benefits Corp., a Broward County viatical provider, was recently sued by investors for misrepresenting the life expectancy of AIDS patients, and therefore the return on the investment, by providing inaccurate information about new treatments. The company denies the charges...
Many viatical deals are marketed to seniors looking for a slightly better return on their retirement income. Ursula Linke, 60, of Silver Spring, Md., and her husband, tired of earning a relatively paltry 4% to 6% on their annuities, moved their entire life savings of $700,000 into viaticals sold by Liberte Capital Group of Toledo, Ohio, which claimed to pay 14% on a one-year maturity. "We wanted to have a sound investment, retire and have some peace and tranquillity," says Linke. After the first few quarterly payments arrived from the company, the money suddenly stopped coming. Liberte Capital...
...witty observer of the swells at romantic play. She's also the patient, strong-willed mistress of her own romantic destiny who finally achieves her long-desired true love. The movie may not entirely please Austen purists, but it is well acted, and it achieves a strong, smart, engaging life...