2011
Five executives and salesmen who worked for A&O Resource Management Ltd., a Houston-based life settlement company, were sentenced to federal prison terms on July 22.
A&O stole at least $100 million from approximately 800 investors, many of them elderly. Investors thought they were buying life-settlement investments, whose returns are tied to the payout from life insurance policies' death benefits.
Sentenced in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., were Russell E. Mackert, general counsel for A&O (15.5 years); Brent Oncale, former owner and founder of A&O (10 years); David White, the former president of A&O (5 years); Eric M. Kurz, a wholesaler of A&O investment products (5 years); and Tomme Bromseth, an A&O sales agent (3 years).
The prosecution was the result of a joint investigation by the Texas State Securities Board, other state agencies in Texas and Virginia, and federal authorities.