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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: life insurance

life insurance stories: 18 news summaries

Life Insurance Scam Eyed
in Hanging

Census worker may have disguised suicide as murder

Nov 13, 09 5:07 AM CST
(Newser) - A census worker found hanged in September may have staged his death for insurance reasons, police say. Sources tell the AP that Bill Sparkman may have manipulated the scene to make his suicide look like murder so that his son could collect on his insurance policy. "If it's deemed... More »

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suicide • life insurance • 2010 census • Bill Sparkman

(Newser) - Jimi Hendrix's manager murdered the legendary rocker to cash in on a $2 million life insurance policy, an aide reveals in a new book. Hendrix was "worth more dead to him than alive," according to roadie James Wright. Wright said manager Michael Jeffrey confessed to him that he... More »

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music • drugs • crime • wine • Jimi Hendrix • overdose • rock and roll • life insurance • roadie

Banks Use Worker Life Insurance to Pay Exec Bonuses

Dead employees
keep on giving

May 20, 09 4:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - Former employees of the big banks often end up handing the bosses a final reward when the workers die, the Wall Street Journal reports. The banks have taken out life insurance policies on hundreds of thousands of workers, and the tax-free death benefits are used to finance executive compensation and... More »

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executive compensation • insurance • bank • bonuses • life insurance • banking industry

(Newser) - Now that the banks' stress tests are done, it's on to the insurance industry. The Treasury Department said today it will give TARP funds to the nation's biggest life insurers, the Washington Post reports. Hartford Financial has been given preliminary approval to receive $3.4 billion, and as-yet unspecified amounts... More »

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Treasury Department • insurance industry • life insurance • Allstate • Prudential Financial • Lincoln National • Hartford Financial • TARP • Ameriprise • Principal Financial Group

(Newser) - David Hasselhoff ex Pamela Bach has asked a judge to force the actor to maintain life insurance so her support payments would continue in the event of his death, TMZ reports. The couple’s divorce proceedings have now reached an epic scale. Hasselhoff argues that the life insurance proviso wasn’... More »

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David Hasselhoff • life insurance • celebrity divorces • child support • Pamela Bach

Pastor Charged With Killing Disabled Man

Police say preacher paid hitman with $50K in church funds

Apr 25, 09 4:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - Baltimore police say a pastor has admitted to killing a mentally disabled and blind man to collect on his life insurance money, the Baltimore Sun reports. Charged yesterday, Kevin Pushia, 32, confessed to hiring a hit man with $50,000 in church funds to kill Lemuel Wallace—one of several... More »

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Baltimore • life insurance • pastor • murder plot

 US Extends Bailout 
 to Life Insurers 

Treasury throwing a lifeline to a third industry

Apr 8, 09 1:41 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Treasury Department has decided to give struggling life insurance companies access to federal bailout funds, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal. The industry—which had earlier seemed largely immune to the credit crisis—has been hit hard by stock market and real estate declines, leaving some firms on the... More »

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insurance • Treasury Department • life insurance • Troubled Asset Relief Program • financial crisis • TARP

AIG's Woes Point to Larger Insurance Crisis

Federal aid may offer AIG a competitive advantage in ailing industry

Mar 30, 09 9:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - AIG’s troubles were quickly blamed on a single, obscure wing of the company, but its problems extend to its core life-insurance division—underscoring dangerous weaknesses across the entire industry and pointing to the possibility of a second financial crisis, the Los Angeles Times reports. What's more, by offering AIG... More »

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Federal aid • AIG • bailout • American International Group • life insurance • credit rating • financial crisis

As Life Insurers Face Losses, Next Bailout Decision Looms

Life insurers, a key cog in capital markets, seek TARP funds

Mar 12, 09 9:41 AM CDT
(Newser) - Life insurance companies, an oft-overlooked yet important cog in the financial infrastructure, haven’t been immune to tumbling markets, the Wall Street Journal reports, which are eroding both their portfolios and consumer confidence. A Dow Jones life insurance index is off 59% this year and 82% from its 2007 high,... More »

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bonds • bond market • life insurance • capital markets • financial crisis • Prudential Financial • Hartford Financial • MetLife

(Newser) - If you want to understand the phrase “too big to fail,” look no further than AIG, the Los Angeles Times reports. With $1.1 trillion at the end of 2007, operations in 130 countries and 74 million customers, AIG is so entrenched in the global financial system that... More »

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health insurance • insurance companies • AIG • bailout • life insurance • airlines • financial crisis • TARP

MARKETS

 Dow Off 177 on Poor Earnings 

Goldman report sends life insurance down

Nov 11, 08 3:40 PM CST
(Newser) - Stocks declined today as poor earnings reports made investors bearish, the Wall Street Journal reports. Although news of the Fannie/Freddie plan to speed refinancing efforts for distressed homeowners checked midday losses, the Dow dropped 176.58 to close at 8,693.96. The Nasdaq dropped 35.84, settling at 1,... More »

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Starbucks • Goldman Sachs • Dow Jones • Alcoa • Nasdaq • Toll Brothers • S&P 500 • life insurance • Prudential Financial • Lincoln National

Ledger Tot Sues as Insurance Balks at $10M Payout

Company says it can't rule out suicide

Sep 29, 08 9:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - A trustee representing Heath Ledger's 3-year-old daughter is suing the actor's insurance provider, who is balking at paying out his $10 million death benefits, TMZ reports. ReliaStar Life Insurance Co. says it's withholding payment until they determine whether Ledger's accidental overdose death was a suicide, an investigation that includes quizzing... More »

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suicide • celebrity • lawsuit • Heath Ledger • Mary-Kate Olsen • Matilda Rose Ledger • life insurance

LA's 'Black Widows' Get
Life in Prison for Murders

Pair killed two homeless men for life insurance

Jul 16, 08 1:43 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two elderly women who carried out a cold-blooded scheme to murder homeless men have been sentenced to life without parole by a Los Angeles judge. Helen Golay, 77, and 75-year-old Olga Rutterschmidt—nicknamed the "Black Widows" in the media—lured two vagrants off the street, cared for them for... More »

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murder • homeless • hit-and-run • life insurance • Helen Golay • Olga Rutterschmidt • Kenneth McDavid • Paul Vados

Employers Use Law to Withhold Benefits

Think you're covered? Not if your company decides you're not

Jul 5, 08 6:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - Thomas Amschwand was dying, but made sure his wife would collect on his $426,000 life insurance policy. Yet when he died, his boss withheld the money, and his wife was powerless—because a federal law stops workers from suing employers for large sums of health, life, or retirement benefits.... More »

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health insurance • lawsuit • benefits • US Supreme Court • life insurance • retirement benefits • Employee Retirement Income Security Act

Quick-Fix Cash Schemes Find More Takers

Reverse mortgages, insurance buyouts   among risky moves

Jun 2, 08 10:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - Big banks aren’t the only ones struggling to find the cash to keep going. Americans are feeling the pinch, and grabbing cash anywhere they can find it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Credit-card debts remains high, but more are turning to options that bring a quick infusion of cash... More »

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personal finance • debt • 401k • consumer debt • life insurance • cash flow • reverse mortgage

 House Could Be Dead Giveaway 

69-year-old seller will make home's buyer beneficiary of $500K insurance policy

Apr 6, 08 11:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - If Bob Fanning dies in the next decade, the buyer of his Wisconsin home—listed at $498,900—will get a half-million dollar payday. That’s because the 69-year-old plans to make the new owner the beneficiary of a 10-year life-insurance policy, a carrot he hopes will sweeten the deal... More »

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Wisconsin • homeownership • real estate values • housing crisis • subprime crisis • life insurance

Military Death Payments Trouble Families

$500,000 windfalls for next of kin can cause confusion, discord

Mar 22, 08 8:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - The military pays $500,000 to the next of kin of every soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the sudden injection of cash during a time of grief often throws survivors off balance. Young military spouses can struggle with money management and long-lost friends and relatives sometimes appear asking... More »

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War on Terror • US military • military spouses • compensation • benefits • military families • Iraq war • life insurance • Afghanistan war

Man Kills Stranger, Fakes Own Death

Suspect commits suicide as cops close in; wife under scrutiny

Mar 7, 08 5:00 PM CST
(Newser) - A Chicago-area construction boss trying to work a life-insurance scam killed another man, used the body to fake his own death, then killed himself as police converged, the Chicago Tribune reports. Authorities are now looking at whether the killer and his wife, who had email contact after his “death,... More »

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Chicago • murder • identity theft • insurance fraud • life insurance • faking your own death • Ari Squire • Denise Squire • Justin Newman • Main Beam Construction

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