Laura Vozzella
The Washington Post
10/26/2013
A dying mechanic wanted a few thousand dollars to leave to his wife, two sons and infant daughter. A politically connected millionaire, now running for Virginia governor, wanted to make some money. And a Rhode Island estate planner wanted to become ambassador to the Vatican.
All three came together on paper in late 2006 in a deal struck just two months before the 44-year-old mechanic died of cancer.
The mechanic got $5,000. The millionaire, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, made at least $47,000. But the estate planning lawyer, Joseph Caramadre, went to prison instead of Rome.
Caramadre helped McAuliffe place a bet on the dying man based on a loophole the estate planner had sniffed out in the fine print of insurance annuities. Although the loophole was legal, Caramadre has pleaded guilty to stealing the identities of the terminally ill as part of his scheme. He is in federal prison, awaiting sentencing.
There is no indication that McAuliffe or other investors were aware that patients, recruited through hospices and a Catholic newspaper, were sometimes duped into participating. McAuliffe has called himself a “passive investor.”…
The article continues at The Washington Post.
Related: An editorial from The Providence Journal, Dollars from Death
Prosecutors in a fraud case have released the names of investors who profited from a scheme to bilk insurance companies by using the names of terminally ill patients. Some of the dozens of names on the list are raising eyebrows….
