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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      

CONTACT: Nina Banister (850) 413-2842
February 13, 2004
Len Register, Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney (850) 554-5995
                              


VIATICAL FRAUD INDICTMENT RETURNED

PENSACOLA-Florida's Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher and Gregory R.
Miller, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida,
announced the unsealing of a federal indictment against eight individuals
in connection with their activities with LifeTime Capital, Inc., a viatical
company that once operated out of Dayton, Ohio, and South Florida, and
other related companies.   Indicted were David W. Svete, Douglas A. Kordel,
Roger W. Lange, Kathleen Lafrance, Ron Girardot, Ian Walcott, Anderson
Marshall, and Charme Austin.

The indictment, which was returned by the federal grand jury in Pensacola
on January 21, 2004, alleges a large-scale money laundering conspiracy in
violation of 18 U.S.C. §371 and §1956, as well as 23 other substantive
violations of mail fraud and interstate transportation of money obtained by
fraud.  The indictment was the result of a long-term investigation by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Financial
Services' Division of Insurance Fraud, and the Florida Office of Financial
Regulation's Division of Investigations.

"Viatical fraud poses a serious financial risk for both consumers and
investors, many of whom are senior citizens who invest their life savings
in these policies," said Gallagher, who oversees the Department of
Financial Services.

Viatical settlement contracts are written agreements between a viatical
settlement provider and the insured or owner of a life insurance contract.
The insured or beneficiary under the contract is known as the "viator."
The viatical service provider, in effect, purchases the right to obtain the
proceeds of a life insurance contract from the insured or owner prior to
the death of the insured.  When the insured dies, the proceeds from the
insurance contract then go to the holder of the viatical contract, who then
distributes the funds to the investors according to the terms of the
agreement.

As set out in the indictment, the object of the conspiracies charged in the
Northern District of Florida was to fraudulently obtain money from
investors by representing that the viatical contracts were on terminally
ill patients and that the investors could not lose.  The indictment further
alleges that the charged individuals arranged to launder the fraudulently
obtained funds by removing the funds to overseas locations to conceal and
disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of these
funds.

A trial is scheduled for March 22, 2004. All defendants are presumed
innocent unless and until their guilt is established by the government
beyond every reasonable doubt.

The Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud,
investigates various forms of fraud in insurance, including health, life,
auto, property and workers' compensation insurance. Anyone with information
about this case or another possible fraud scheme should call the
department's Fraud Hotline at 1-800-378-0445.  A reward of up to $25,000
may be offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

© 1998 - 2008 Bialkin Books, publisher of viatical books banned in Texas and Florida
(at the behest of companies that consider informed consumers dangerous to their bottom line):
Viatical Litigation: Principles & Practice - the first legal text on the industry
Viatical & Life Settlements: An Investor's Guide
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