National Life settlement favors investors

An Austin judge on Wednesday approved the release of nearly $20 million back to defrauded investors who sunk money into National Life Settlements LLC.

About 320 investors will share $19.8 million, or about 69 percent of the amount they invested in the Houston company, which is accused of selling promissory notes that were purportedly backed by life insurance policies, according to the Texas Securities Commission.

Houston attorney Janet Mortenson, the court-appointed receiver in control of NLS, said checks to investors will be mailed Dec. 17.

A life settlement is the sale of an insurance policy to a third-party in exchange for a one-time cash payment. The purchaser then continues to pay the premiums and becomes the beneficiary of the policy.

Many of the investors were teachers and state of Texas retirees who turned over retirement funds to the company.

An investigation led by the State Securities Board and the Texas Attorney General’s office unveiled that National Life Settlements sold about $30 million in unregistered investments, mostly through insurance agents. The company, which also had offices in Austin and South Texas, marketed their investments as safe products that promised a steady return of 10 percent a year, according to court documents.

Howard Judah Jr., the chief executive officer and chairman of the board of NLS, is a three-time convicted felon whose most recent conviction was in U.S. District Court in New York in 1998 for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the commission. Another principal of NLS, Gregory Jablonski of Castle Rock, Colo., also sold unregistered securities to unsuspecting retirees.