Death Bets

Filed in archive Hedgetalk on July 23, 2007

In a NewsWeek article...
The life settlements industry-the business of buying and selling unwanted life insurance policies-is attracting people from a variety of backgrounds. In the past eight years, business has blossomed as the elderly look to unload unwanted policies. The main buyers of these policies are hedge funds, speculators, and Wall Street banks, all betting that the sellers will die sooner rather than later, so they can collect on the hefty death benefits.

because of lax oversight, virtually anyone can get into the game, making life settlements fertile ground for everyone from erstwhile experts to novices to rogues. Scandals have been commonplace in the business, with some scam artists taking advantage of elderly sellers and investors in specialized life settlement funds. Yet new players keep joining the market every day, seemingly undeterred by the prospect of getting burned by bad actors.