LV company named in viaticals probe

Michelle Swafford

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

A Las Vegas-based company was issued a subpoena Monday on behalf of the California Department of Corporations, which is investigating the possible illegal selling of life insurance investments.

Assured Solutions International LLC is one of five companies allegedly involved in California with the selling of viaticals, which are investments in life insurance policies that enable the insured to obtain a percentage of the policies' value in cash by transferring the policies to brokers. The brokers sell the policies to investors for less than the face value and investors receive the policy value once the policyholder dies, the California Department of Corporations said.

Viaticals can be legitimately sold in California if the companies are licensed to do so, but the state has evidence that such transactions are occurring with unlicensed companies, said Shad Balch, spokesman for the California Department of Corporations.

He alleged that some tactics being used in California constitute fraud. For example, a broker sometimes tells an investor a person is going to die within a year and then the person doesn't.

"The very nature of what (viaticals) are is morbid," Balch said. "We're trying to find out how widespread this is and then put an end to it."

Other companies that were issued subpoenas are San Francisco-based Wilbanks & Associates LLC; Belmont, Calif.-based First Financial Capital Inc.; Ontario, Calif.-based Tru-Mor Inc. and Ontario, Calif.-based Tru-Mor Financial Group. The companies have until March 26 to submit the requested information.

"We believe they have knowledge or have been in engaged in the business of selling viaticals in California," Balch said.

Viaticals became popular in the 1980s when AIDS patients sold their life insurance policies to obtain needed cash before they died, Balch said.

Peggy Dehl, spokeswoman for the Nevada Division of Insurance, said Assured Solutions is not licensed in Nevada as an insurer. She said the state doesn't disclose whether companies are being investigated.

She said that before working with an insurer, consumers should check with the Nevada Division of Insurance to see if the company is licensed or visit the agency's website, www.doi.state.nv.us.

Assured Solutions officials declined to comment on what type of business the company does or the subpoena itself. The company's website said it is "a financial services company that specializes in the secondary life insurance market, also known as viatical/life settlements."

The website said the company has been serving clients since 1995 and has more than 200 agents in 21 states from New York to California. It also said the company formed a viatical university to train insurance and securities agents on the industry.

Assured Solutions is a member of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Nevada with a satisfactory record.