Life Partners Trustee Files Multi-Million Dollar Suit Against CEO Brian Pardo

DALLAS, Sept. 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 11, H. Thomas Moran II ("Moran"), chapter 11 Trustee for Life Partners, filed a fraud and racketeering lawsuit against Brian Pardo, the company's CEO and chairman from 2000 until early 2015, seeking more than $40 million in damages related to monies Pardo transferred to himself and his family.

Filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas – Fort Worth Division, the suit says Pardo operated his company in such a way as to build maximum trust from investors while systematically lying to and misleading them to generate as much profit as possible for Life Partners, himself, and his family.

"My investigation into the business practices of Life Partners clearly shows investors were misled at every turn—in marketing, in life expectancy information, and in communications from Life Partners and its Licensees after their money was invested," said Moran. "The suit seeks to recover the substantial losses incurred by investors as a result of the wide-ranging, fraudulent scheme led and perpetrated by Mr. Pardo."    

The suit outlines that from about 2007 until 2015, Pardo and others marketed fractional interests in life insurance policies purchased by Life Partners to retail investors by utilizing a significantly underestimated life expectancy ("LE") of the insured, which was prepared at the direction of Pardo. In the marketing of these fractional interests, Pardo and others concealed the facts that (i) industry standard LE estimates predicted the insured would likely live longer than the shortened LE estimates given to investors; and (ii) Pardo and his sales team were receiving large and excessive commissions, at times exceeding the actual purchase price of the policies.

In addition, Pardo used the Life Partners business to line his and his family's pockets. Millions of dollars of dividends and profits from the business were paid, at Pardo's direction, to himself, his family, and other insiders and affiliates during the course of this fraudulent scheme. The money was derived almost entirely from undisclosed fees paid to Life Partners when contract positions in the proceeds of life insurance policies were sold.

For more information, see Moran v. Pardo, case number 4:15-ap-4079. To obtain the motion, visit http://dm.epiq11.com/LFP. The trustee is represented by David M. Bennett, Katharine B. Clark, Richard B. Roper, and Jennifer R. Ecklund of Thompson & Knight LLP.

Contact: Lauren Gass, 1-214-969-2599

SOURCE Thompson & Knight LLP

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