Two Houston hedge fund slimeballs have been sentenced to REALLY long jail terms for their participation in a $100-million life settlement fraud scheme that victimized 800 people in the U.S. and Canada. 
According to a report in Financial Advisor, Adley H. Abdulwahab, 36, a hedge fund manager and part owner of A&O Resource Management Ltd., was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Co-founder and vice president of A&O, Christian Allmendinger, 40, was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
"These defendants used the savings of their unsuspecting, often elderly, investors to live the high life—luxury houses, fancy cars and even a 15-karat diamond ring," said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. "Having wiped out the life savings of many of their victims and stolen funds marked for retirement, Mr. Abdulwahab and Mr. Allmendinger appropriately now face significant prison terms."
"The victims of A&O's scam were looking for a conservative investment, and they were manipulated into believing A&O was a safe, secure, no-risk investment," MacBride added. "It was all a big, fat lie; A&O was a sham, a financial house of cards waiting to collapse. Hundreds of elderly retirees saw their life savings vanish, and their lives have been devastated by their loss."
There's already a special place in Hell for Abdulwahab and Allmendinger. When I read of stories such as this one wonders whether sharia law would dole out a more appropriate remedy.
Court records said that the principals at A&O misrepresented such things as A&O's prior success, its size and office locations, its number of employees, the risks of its investment offerings and its safety and use of investor funds. When regulators began looking into the investment scheme, it was learned that the principals invented two sham companies to hide behind, Blue Diamond and Physician's Trust.
As someone who works with people who are moving through financial transitions, who appreciates their sensitivities and vulnerabilities, I find the actions of Abdulwahab and Allmendinger repulsive. Their victims probably do not have the capability to earn back the hurt these cowardly hoodlums have heaped on them.
It is clear that the United States Department of Justice is on the hunt for wrong doing in the secondary markets for life insurance, structured settlements as well as premium finance. Earlier this week the Feds descended upon the Boca Raton offices of Imperial Holdings to serve a search warrant related to its life finance business. Imperial said the raid came as a complete surprise and said it was cooperating with the probe.
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