FFL – Family First Life – Lawsuits

  • 2021 1227 – Letter – FTC to FFL Family First Life – Cease and Desist – 15p
    • This is to advise you that FTC staff has reviewed social media posts made by Family First Life’s business opportunity participants or representatives in December 2021.
      • We have determined that Family First life is unlawfully misrepresenting that consumers who become Family First Life business opportunity participants are likely to earn substantial income.
    • Some examples of earnings claims made by your business opportunity participants or representatives include:

2010s

  • 2018 – LC – Family First Life v. Winnett
    • 2:2018cv01275
    • California Eastern District Court
    • 05/18/2018 07/11/2018

2022

2023

2024

  • 2024 – LC – Family First Life Fenix Financial v. Parris
    • 3:2024cv00506
    • Tennessee Middle District Court
    • 04/23/2024
    • Pacer – Yes

LIAA – Life Insurance Association of America

  • Journal – Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of Life Insurance Association of America
  • In addition, a special LIAA-ALC-ILI Committee on Life Insurance Costs was formed to study life insurance cost comparison methods.

—  Robert G. Braund

1969 – SOA – Life Net Cost Comparisons, tsa69v21pt2dn59ab7 – Society of Actuaries – 34p

DSA – Direct Selling Association

  • 2025 – Direct Selling Caucus Members – dsa.org/advocacy/caucus/
    • Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY)
    • Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH)
    • Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT)
    • Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI)
    • Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)

1990s

  • 1990 – LC – Amway v Director of Revenue, State of Missouri, No. 72155 – Amicus Curiae of Direct Selling Association (DSA) – 13p
  • 1990 – LC – Amway v Director of Revenue, State of Missouri, No. 72155 – Amicus Curiae of Direct Selling Association (DSA) – 13p
  • 1991 – LC – Debi Eyerman vs Mary Kay Cosmetics
    • No. 91-3083, United States Court of Appeals – Sixth Circuit –
    • Amicus – DSA – In Support of Mary Kay Cosmetics – 13p
      • DSA is concerned that Appellant and her amici curiae
        are seeking to expand Ohio’s employment discrimination law beyond the scope intended by the legislature. Specifically, Appellant attempts to stretch the scope of the employment law to cover nonemployee independent contractors. This could have serious repercussions for direct sales businesses and independent contractors by causing confusion about the scope of numerous employment-related statutes which, in the past, have not applied to independent contractors.
  • 1996 0422 – LC – Shaun Webster and Robert Ligon vs Omnitrition International, Inc., Jim Fobair, Roger Daley, Charles Ragus and Jerry Rubin – [Herbalife] – 

2010s

  • 2015 1030 – Letter – DSA to Direct Selling Caucus – Congress – 1p
    • Recently, you received a letter and may have also noticed an op-ed in The Hill newspaper from Robert FitzPatrick representing a group calling itself the International Coalition of Consumer Advocates (ICCA).
    • His well-documented agenda of fear mongering and lack of credibility on direct selling issues has remained constant for years.
      • If consumer protection was truly at the heart of ICCA, it would attempt to reach the general public where it actually resides, not where investment pros go for insight into billion-dollar decisions.
      • Furthermore, FitzPatrick is critical of short sellers, which he says harm the public interest, yet it is he and his ICCA cohorts who are partially responsible for aiding the irresponsible tactics of Pershing Square.
  • 2017 – DSA – Academic of the Year – Brenda Cude, Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator at University of Georgia, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Direct Selling Association – p21
    • As the recipient of DSEF’s Academic of the Year honor, the Foundation recognized Brenda Cude for her outstanding service to direct selling through her leadership, personal involvement, teaching and research.
    • Cude has helped DSEF broaden the understanding of the direct selling channel as a powerful go-to-market strategy, distribution model and entrepreneurial option among DSEF academic fellows, university students and the public.
    • 2017 – DSA – Looking Beyond: DSA Annual Meeting 2017 Wrap Up – issuu.com/directsellingassoc/docs/am2017wrapupbookletemail

2020s

  • 2020 – LC – CC Just Energy Marketing Corp. v. Davina Hurt and Dominic Hill
    • No. 20-1093
    • Supreme Court of the United States
    • 2021 0315 – LC – Brief of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, National Federation of Independent Business, and the Direct Selling Association [DSA] as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners – 27p
  • 2023 0301 – Letter – DSA to Member of Congress – 2p
    • On behalf of more than 7.3 million active direct sellers who sell to 44.6 million preferred customers, discount buyers and many other consumers, we oppose re-introduction of the current version of the Protecting the Right to Organize (“PRO”) Act.
    • Direct sellers contributed $42.7 billion in estimated retail sales to the American economy in 2021 Sales increased 6.4% from 2020-2021 and have grown almost 22% since 2019.

1974 0710 – GOV (Senate) – Pyramid Sales, Frank E. Moss (D-UT)

  • (p1) – Frank E. Moss (D-UT) – Today we will look into the strange and disturbing world of the fast buck pyramid sales scheme.
    • Untold hundreds of small investors have been bilked out of hard earned savings by the fast talking operators of these get rich quick schemes. 
  • (p9) – Securities & Exchange Commission v. Glenn W. Turner Enterprises Inc.
  • (p9) – The non-disclosure charged Is that it Is mathematically impossible for each participant to do so. See Blachly v United States .380F.2d 665 (5th Clr.1967).
  • (p11) – Third. lines 12 through 16 of the amendment are objectionable for vagueness. With the acceptance of this amended language, counsel for the United States would be forced to ask a jury in a criminal prosecution to find beyond a reasonable doubt that there is a “reasonable probability” that compensation will be derived “primarily” from recruitment of others. 
  • (p11) – Fourth, the last four lines of the proposed amendment on page 12 of the IFA Statement fail to distinguish between sales to consumers and sales to other participants and, therefore, it is objectionable for the reasons mentioned earlier.
  • (p11) – endless chains
  • (p15) – 
  • (p16) – Senator MONDALE (D-MN)  – However, their efforts have frequently been frustrated by neighboring States with no law concerning these organizations or no enforcement efforts. Pyramiders simply flee to States with weak or nonexistent legislation.
    • The bill imposes criminal and civil penalties on those fraudulent pyramid sales operators who prey on the public with unfounded presentations of future earnings through endless chain promotions.
    • Pyramid sales schemes are defined by  S. 1939 as including any plan or operation for the sale or distribution of goods, services, or other property which contains any provision for increasing participation in the plan through a chain process.
    • This chain process is further defined to include payment of considerable compensation for introducing one or more additional people into participation in the plan each of whom receives the same or  similar right or opportunity to receive compensation when a person introduced by the participant introduces one or more additional persons into participation in the plan.
    • This definitional language isolates the fraudulent pyramid sales operations without affecting the hundreds of legitimate companies which do business using commission arrangements or franchise organization in which the primary aim is sales to the consuming public rather recruitment of additional persons into an endless chain.
  • (p17) – Senator Moss (D-UT) – I wonder if I can interrupt. Do you know of any organized opposition to the basic thrust of this bill? There may he questions on the definition or something like that.
    • Senator MONDALE (D-MN) –  I know of none. More than that, there is a very strong sense of urgency by all concerned, and I think the attorneys general will spell out why we need legislation of this type to help them and to help the Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies that have been frustrated in attempts to eliminate this pernicious and widespread practice.

No Premium Due

  • Commissioner Willis (DC) said the trouble with disclosing that the premium might at some point “resume” is that the premium never stopped.
    • It is misleading to make a consumer think the premium is not being paid.
    • [Bonk: Vanishing Premium, Policy Mechanics, Cash Flow, Work)

1994-3, NAIC Proceedings

1983 0206 – Fort Lauderdale News – Guardian – Vanishing Premium – LifeGuard Whole Life – p78 – Newspapers.com

Barry Kaye

  • 1982 0119 – The Los Angeles Times – Barry Kaye Moves Insurance Better than Anyone in the USA – [link]
  • 1991 – Book – Save a Fortune on Your Life Insurance, by Barry Kaye
  • 1998 1102 – Forbes – Barry Kaye – It’s Time to Hedge Your Bets – p21 – 1p
    • Life Insurance Can Beat Any Investment Whether You’re Worth $10 Million or $100 Million
  • 2006 – Book – You Buy, You Die, It Pays!, by Barry Kaye
  • 2007 – Book – Die Rich and Tax Free, by Barry Kaye
  • 2009 0118 – AUDIO – Dr. Barry Kaye, Founder, Barry Kaye College of Business, Barry Kaye Associates Inc. Insurance Services – [AUDIO-MP3]
    • A pioneer in life insurance – In this interview Barry Kaye shares the many new practices from product to marketing that helped shape the insurance industry.
    • 3 – 14 years of Show-Business
      • Communication, Selling, Technicians can’t communicate,
    • 6 – Life Insurance is an Asset Class
    • 7 – Buying Life Insurance based on Life Expectancy
      • Mortality Tables
      • Books
      • Funding Strategies
      • Buying twice the insurance for half the price
      • Option to put more money in at any time
  • 2009 0820 – InvestmentNews – Florida Atlantic University strips Barry Kaye’s name from business school: Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business yesterday stripped life insurance guru Barry Kaye’s name from the school, according to published reports, By Darla Mercado – [link]
    • Both the firm and Mr. Kaye’s son, Howard, were sued last month by an 81-year-old Ohio man who said in his complaint that he was encouraged to buy a $5 million life policy and sell it in the life settlements market.
      • After paying $322,118 in premiums over two years, the client was stuck with the policy when Howard Kaye and the firm were unable to locate a buyer.
    • The Ohio Insurance Department had said that it is looking into the claims in the lawsuit.
  • 2009 – LC – LEVIN, Plaintiff, v. BARRY KAYE & ASSOCIATES, INC.,
    • https://archive.org/details/gov.uscourts.ohsd.131878
    • Court: United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Western Division
    • Case No. 3:09cv287
    • 858 F. Supp. 2d 914 (S.D. Ohio 2012)
    • 2012 0313 – Opinion – Date published: Mar 13, 2012 – casetext.com/case/levin-v-barry-kaye-assocs-inc
      • The policy was issued by Transamerica
      • Transamerica argues:
        • There are clearly genuine issues of material fact concerning Howard Kaye’s actual and apparent authority as a Transamerica agent to solicit the purchase of a Transamerica life insurance policy for the propose of a subsequent sale of the policy.
        • Plaintiff is therefore not entitled to summary judgment on his vicarious liability claim against Transamerica.
  • 2010 0406 – The Palm Beach Post –  Boynton Beach couple sue former Boca Raton insurance mogul Barry Kaye over $500,000, by Jane Musgrave – [link]
    • Life Settlements

19 Jan 1982, Tue The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com

02 May 2007, Wed The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida) Newspapers.com

02 May 2007, Wed The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida) Newspapers.com

Cointel Pro

  • Cointel Pro – Counter Intelligence Program
  • https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro/White%20Hate%20Groups/cointelpro-white-hate-groups-part-09-of-14
    • (p186) – We have requested the Charlotte Office to consider the same type of counterintelligence activity against the revenue-producing and Klan-operated life insurance program,;
      in the State of North Carolina.” 
    • (p190) – NOTE: The UKA, under the direction of James Robertson Jones, has started a Klan life insurance program which could be the source of substantial revenue for the Klan. 

FPA – Financial Planning Association

1990s

  • 1994 10 – JFP – Conserving Client Portfolios During Retirement, Part I, by William P. Bengen, CFP – 10p
  • 1996 – JFP – Conserving Client Portfolios During Retirement, Part II, by William P. Bengen, CFP – <WishList>
  • 1997 12 – JFP – Conserving Client Portfolios During Retirement, Part III, by William P. Bengen, CFP  – 12p

2000s

  • 2001 – JFP – Conserving Client Portfolios During Retirement, Part IV, by William P. Bengen, CFP – 12p
  • 2003 01 – JFP – The Enemies of Capitalism, by David M. Cordell, Vol. 16, Iss. 1, 42-43, FPA-Financial Planning Association – [link – Snippet]  —  <WishList>
  • 2004 03 – JFP – Determining Withdrawal Rates Using Historical Data, by William P. Bengen, jfp0304 – Reprint from 1994 – 13p
  • 2009 – JFP – Life Insurance in Times of Uncertainty, by David M. Cordell and Thomas P. Langdon, FPA-Financial Planning Association – 2p – <Bad Link-https://www.massmutual.com/mmfg/pdf/journalfp_090109.pdf>  —  <WishList>
    • We have a yellowed Wall Street Journal article dated May 4, 1981, in which the introductory paragraph Of the article was: “Where can you get one of the highest tax-deferred or tax-free-yields on your savings? Try life insurance.”

    • The author proceeded to discuss “‘two products that truly advance the state of the art” and were “real breakthroughs for consumers.” They were called -ahem- universal life and variable life. Yes, there really was a time when these two life insurance staples were exciting new products.

  • 2003 01 – Journal of Financial Planning – The enemies of capitalism, by David M.  Cordell, Vol. 16, Iss. 1, 42-43 – [link – Snippet] – <WishList>

    • A few weeks ago I decided to set aside an afternoon to reorganize my office. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t a whole afternoon. And, I guess “reorganize” is a bit too strong of a characterization. In fact, it wasn’t actually an advance decision. Okay. In the interest of “full disclosure,” I slipped on a pile of manila folders that I put on the floor several months ago. Then I moved them to the last remaining 100-square-inch, non– carpeted, upward-facing surface in my office. But that’s not the point.

      The point is that, feeling somewhat compelled to look inside the folders, I found something that caught my attention. It was a yellowed Wall Street Journal article, written by someone named Jill Bettner and dated May 4, 1981. At that time I was a young assistant professor, and the ink on my doctoral diploma was barely dry, which meant that I knew everything about theory and nothing about the real world. To broaden my knowledge base, I became an inveterate article saver, although I confess that I don’t look in my files to review the articles very often.

      Anyway, the opening paragraph of the article was this: “Where can you get one of the highest tax-deferred-or tax-free– yields on your savings? Try life insurance.” The author proceeded to discuss “two products that truly advance the state of the art” and were “real breakthroughs for consumers.” They were called-and hold onto your hats-universal life and variable life. Yes, Virginia, there really was a time when these two staples were exciting new products.

      The article provided a handy illustration of a universal life policy offered by Life of Virginia at that time. The rate of interest applied in the illustration was 10.88 percent. That’s right-10.88 percent. How’d you like to have some of that? And the grizzled life insurance veterans among us will recall that that wasn’t even the peak.

Conflict of Interest

  • 1966 – LR – The Unauthorized Practice of Law by Laymen and Lay Associations, by Loyd P. Derby – 34p

  • 2005 – LR – The Dirt on Coming Clean, 

  • When rendering legal advice to customers, life insurance salesmen have a conflict of interests-they are interested in setting up an estate plan with the maximum amount of life insurance regardless of the best interests of their client.141

    • Furthermore, there is no indication that other lay estate planners are rendering a public service by providing competent, low-cost service to the public; in fact, it appears that the opposite is true.142

  • For these reasons, the courts have not hesitated to enjoin life insurance salesmen and other lay practitioners from rendering advice that applies specific legal principles to the customer’s particular situation.143

  • It is likely, however, that many of these activities go undetected, and to discourage them, local bar associations must do more than attack them in the courts.

    • The bar must find some effective means of providing these services competently and at a low cost to all the members of the public.

1966 – LR – The Unauthorized Practice of Law by Laymen and Lay Associations, by Loyd P. Derby – 34p