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Securitized Life Insurance Fraud Scheme - $400M Demand
Topics in Legal News |
2009/02/09 12:00
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The Coventry Group sold securitized life insurance polices for hundreds of millions of dollars "through a pattern of bribes, bid-rigging, fraud, and falsification of documents" in 45 states, Ritchie Risk-Linked Strategies Trading says in a $400 million demand in Federal Court.
Coventry has been sued for this by the attorney general of New York and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, according to the complaint.
Ritchie claims Coventry, a buyer and seller of securitized life insurance policies in the secondary market, fabricated documents, falsified documents, paid kickbacks, and violated securities laws across the country.
"In approximately October 2006, plaintiffs learned that many if not all the life insurance policies they had purchased from LST likely had been purchased by defendants in violation of federal, state, and local law and regulations," according to the complaint. "Plaintiffs learned at the same time that there had been proceedings by government agencies threatened against or affecting defendants that could adversely affect plaintiffs' possession of clean and unencumbered title to the policies, contrary to the representations and warranties contained in the MPPAs."
Defendant LST I is a wholly owned subsidiary of defendant Montgomery Capital, and an alter ego of the Coventry Group, according to the complaint. Ritchie claims Coventry and Montgomery are "under common control with the other defendants."
According to the complaint, "Coventry First is a buyer in the secondary market for life insurance policies. It entered the market as a buyer in 2001, and by 2005 it or its affiliates had purchased 1,138 life insurance policies representing more than $3 billion in death benefits."
Ritchie is represented by Jeffrey Liddle with Liddle & Robertson.
Attached to the 22-page complaint are 58 pages of attachments, including then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's colorful 33-page complaint against Coventry and Montgomery in New York County Court, filed in October 2006; and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's 18-page "Notice and Order to Show Cause" of May 2007. |
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2 plead guilty in NY Tamil Tiger terrorism case
Topics in Legal News |
2009/01/26 14:24
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| When customs agents questioned a carload of Sri Lankan immigrants entering the United States at the Canadian border in the summer of 2006, the men claimed they were headed to a bachelor party in Buffalo. There was no party, or even a groom. Two of the men pleaded guilty Monday. U.S. authorities say the men were part of a secret mission to help militants locked in the bloody civil war in their homeland by buying and smuggling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of surface-to-air missiles. According to court papers, the men also wanted guns — but not just any guns. "We need AK-47s, but only if you have Russian-made or American-made," prosecutors allege one defendant said during a meeting with an undercover agent posing as a crooked arms dealer. "Not the Chinese." The videotaped sting is central to an unusual case against four alleged agents of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or "Tamil Tigers" — a Sri Lankan rebel force the State Department calls a terrorist organization. |
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For Sale: Unibomber's Property
Topics in Legal News |
2009/01/12 09:47
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The 9th Circuit upheld a plan to sell or disposal of the Unabomber's personal items - including notes, books, guns and bomb-making materials and instructions - that were seized during his 1996 arrest.
Theodore Kaczynski, the infamous "Unabomber," claimed the plan restricts his freedom of expression and impermissibly allows his victims to vie for any profits from the auction of his goods. He also contested a provision that calls for the destruction of his bomb-making materials instead of returning them to his designee.
He tried to reclaim his property in 2003, but the district court said the government had a "superior ownership interest" in the Unabomber's property. It also determined that his belongings were essentially worthless, as they had to be valued before he gained criminal notoriety in order to keep him from profiting from his crimes.
Kaczynski is serving four consecutive life sentences plus 30 years for a series of mail bombings that killed three people and injured nine others.
In 2005, the 9th Circuit held that the government has an ownership claim in Kaczynski's stuff, but only "if that property is needed to satisfy the terms of the restitution order."
The items aren't worthless, the court noted on appeal, if their sale helps fulfill the $15 million restitution order.
The court said the plan does not violate the First Amendment, because Kaczynski would receive a full set of legible copies before anything was sold.
Kaczynski argued that the originals were more valuable, but offered "no explanation as to how his right to free speech or freedom of expression is impinged by their sale," Judge Hawkins wrote. |
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Grocery Wholesaler in Federal Antitrust Action
Topics in Legal News |
2009/01/05 08:48
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The nation's two largest grocery wholesalers, Supervalu and C&S Wholesale, conspired to allocate territories, restrain competition and inflate prices, according to a federal antitrust class action. Gary's Foods claims the defendants competed until 2003, when Vermont-based C&S decided to go after Supervalu territory in the Midwest.
"Rather than extend their competition to the Midwest or continue to compete in New England, the Defendants conspired to allocate territories: Supervalu agreed to
exit New England in return for C&S's commitment not to enter Wisconsin, Iowa, and other states in the Midwest," the complaint states. "This scheme has caused substantial harm to retailers: prices for wholesale sales and services have been inflated, fewer manufacturer discounts have been passed on to retailers, and the supply of wholesale sales and services has been artificially reduced."
The two defendants have combined annual revenue of $28 billion,according to the complaint. Gary's also claims the defendantsfraudulently concealed their conspiracy. Gary's demands treble damagesand punitive damages for the class. It is represented by Daniel Kotchenwith Kotchen & Low of Washington, D.C. |
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Court reinstates clean air rule during EPA fix
Topics in Legal News |
2008/12/24 09:14
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| In a ruling hailed by environmentalists, a federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated one of President George W. Bush's clean air regulations while the Environmental Protection Agency makes court-mandated changes. In July, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which required 28 mostly Eastern states to reduce smog-forming and soot-producing emissions that can travel long distances in the wind. The court said the EPA overstepped its authority by instituting the rule, citing "more than several fatal flaws" in the regulation. However, a three-judge panel decided to reinstate the rule while the EPA develops a new clean air program. Judge Judith W. Rogers said allowing the country to go without the protection of CAIR while the EPA fixes it "would sacrifice clear benefits to public health and the environment." The judges did not give EPA a deadline to come up with new regulations, but warned the agency that this decision is not an "indefinite stay" of its July ruling. The Environmental Protection Agency had predicted that the Clean Air Interstate Rule would prevent about 17,000 premature deaths a year by dramatically reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. In addition, the EPA said the rule would save up to $100 billion in health benefits, eliminate millions of lost work and school days and prevent tens of thousands of nonfatal heart attacks. |
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