Michael Horowitz, a broker in Los Angeles, will have to pay $850,000 for a scheme involving investors and terminally ill patients. The Securities Exchange Commission says that Horowitz was selling variable annuities contracts to investors that were marketed as short-term investments. The investments involved the payout of death benefits from terminally ill patients. The payout to investors occurred when the patients died, which Horowitz found through nursing homes and Hospice. In addition to having to pay disgorgement, interest, and fees, Horowitz is also banned from associating with other brokers, investment advisors, or firms.
See Megan Leonhardt, Blotter Report: The Deathdealer, Wealth Management, July 31, 2014.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
