Federal securities regulators say a Texas-based life-settlement firm and three of its senior executives “systematically and materially underestimated the life expectancy estimates,” which in turn caused its shareholders to be “duped.”

A plea agreement appears to have been reached in a case where a Costa Rican man allegedly led a $670 million life settlement scheme, according to an Associated Press report.

New York, N.Y.-based life settlement broker sold A&O’s remaining life insurance portfolio for $4.84 million after the company filed for bankruptcy.

A former vice president at Harbor Financial, an insurance brokerage in Baltimore, Md., was indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud his clients of more than $838,350.

Life settlements are becoming an increasingly appealing option for investors who fear the recent volatility of the stock market combined with the globalization of financial markets, according to a Dallas-based company that trains life settlement brokers.

Five employees of a life-settlement company, including two executives, who admitted to conspiring to bilk more than 800 investors were sentenced to prison for their roles in the $100 million, life-settlement fraud scheme.

A lawyer in Florida has admitted to conspiring to fraudulently sell life insurance policies held in the name of AIDS patients.

Two senators from Pennsylvania are raising concerns about the federal tax treatment for life insurance policy sales and purchases.

A former insurance agent from Clayton, Calif., was sentenced to nearly four years in state prison for his role in a $800,000 Ponzi scheme involving stranger-owned life insurance (STOLI).

The life settlement industry is positioned for “one of its strongest years in recent memory,” according to a financing company chief executive.