Trial begins in Life Partners Holdings case
Waco-based Life Partners Holdings and three executives went on trial Monday in Austin, where a jury will weigh allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that they defrauded investors, misrepresented company revenues and benefitted from insider information when selling their own company shares.
U.S. District Judge James R. Nowlin is presiding over proceedings that stem from a lawsuit the SEC filed in January 2012 against Life Partners, founder Brian D. Pardo, longtime general counsel R. Scott Peden and chief financial officer David Martin.
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Life Partners, which was incorporated in 1991, has become a leader in the area of viatical settlements. It brokers the sale of life insurance policies from the very ill to investors who pay less than face value for the policies, take up premium payments and collect the proceeds upon the deaths of sellers.
For example, an individual needing cash for treatment or living expenses might sell a $1 million policy for $500,000. Life Partners often packages multiple policies for sale to groups of investors. Since its founding, it has acquired policies with $3 billion in face value.
More at http://www.wacotrib.com/news/business/trial-begins-in-life-partners-holdings-case/article_8eadbfc1-df33-5935-a206-d7c67d7e9b68.html .
Cross-posted in the Texas Group.
