Viatical & Life Settlements
                                         consumer information
                                                            

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We do not buy
or sell
viatical contracts

To Order Books
Click links
at the bottom
of the page





(not the actual cover)

MEDIA RELEASE
August 6, 1999
STATE MOVES TO PULL VIATICAL COMPANY’S LICENSE

TALLAHASSEE - A Central Florida man is linked to a Florida viatical company through a Nevada firm, even though state officials here previously banned him from management, ownership or other involvement in the company.

As a result, state Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson, in an order issued Aug. 5, took steps to yank the company's license to deal in viaticals here. The Orlando-based Accelerated Benefits Corp. now has 21 days to contest Nelson's Order to Show Cause or surrender its Certificate of Authority as a viatical settlement provider.

Viatical settlement providers, like Accelerated Benefits, are in the business of buying life insurance policies at a discount, usually from the terminally ill, and then reselling them to investors. It's a legitimate business that has its roots in the AIDS crisis.
But Accelerated Benefits is not the only viatical company being probed by the Florida Department of Insurance. At least five of the state's eight licensed viatical providers currently are under scrutiny for having dealt in policies obtained from insurers through cleansheeting. This is a practice that involves hiding terminal medical conditions from a life insurer in order to obtain a policy for resale to investors.

"We're going to clean up this industry," Nelson said today.

(Excerpted from the official release)