Father/Son Sued for Fraudulent Investment Scheme

The SEC sued Benjamin Sydney Staples, 62, and Benjamin OnealStaples, 28, claiming the father and son made $6.5 million by illegally profitingfrom the deaths of the terminally ill.

The Staples allegedly ran a fraudulent investment schemethey called an “Estate Assistance Program,” which supposedly helped theterminally ill pay for their funeral expenses. They had the individuals “agree to open joint accounts and signdocuments that relinquished their ownership rights to the accounts or anyassets in them.”  After their death, theStaples demanded the survivor’s option, misrepresenting that the deceasedparticipant was still an “owner” of the bonds.

See Those Dead People Are Worth Money,Courthouse News Service, Sept. 23, 2013.