Betting On Life: A Constitutional Candidate

By Kleinheider Posted on December 8, 2008 at 8:39 am

Ken Whitehouse and Clint Brewer report on state Treasurer candidate Ira Brody and an unsavory business practice his firm has been associated with:

InsCap has also seen its fair share of battles in other states relative to its business of financing premiums for the life insurance policies of affluent families, individuals and institutions. InsCap is closely associated in the minds of the insurance industry with viatical settlements, though Brody says that is not the service InsCap offers.

According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, “a viatical settlement allows you to invest in another person’s life insurance policy. With a viatical settlement, you purchase the policy (or part of it) at a price that is less than the death benefit of the policy. When the seller dies, you collect the death benefit. Your return depends upon the seller’s life expectancy and the actual date he or she dies.”

Inscap’s own Web site says their business makes it possible for “affluent households and large institutions to finance the acquisition of life insurance as an asset.”

UPDATE: Clint Brewer in the comments:

To be fair, this is not the line of work Ira Brody’s firm practices. The article explains that.

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Tags: InsCap, Ira Brody, life, Money, State treasurer, viatical settlement