A broker charged with scouring nursing homes and hospices for terminally ill patients so wealthy clients could reap death benefits from annuities contracts agreed to pay $850,000, admit limited wrongdoing and be barred from the securities industry, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday.
Los Angeles broker Michael Horowitz used unwitting patients in a scheme designed to reap short-term benefits for his clients, who designated the terminally ill as annuitants whose death would trigger a benefit payout, the SEC said.
