When Feds Raid Your Life Insurance Policy Buyer (IFT)

Imperial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: IFT) is a company that many have never heard of, but the company is in the news in a manner it probably never wanted to be.  On Tuesday evening it announced that it was served with a search warrant by a Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida.  The company is involved in the often controversial field of providing liquidity solutions with a focus on individual life insurance policies and purchasing structured settlement payments.

Imperial announced that the company itself and employees including its chairman and chief executive officer and its president and chief operating officer are under investigation in the District of New Hampshire with respect to its life finance business.

The company also noted that no action has been taken against its structured settlement business and it also claims to anticipate that it will be in normal operations in all of its business segments.

Attorneys have been hired as the company noted that the law firm of Greenburg Traurig has been hired to help respond to the investigation.

Buying life insurance policies and structured settlements has long been considered by many as an ethical controversy.  Without knowing the full scale of this investigation, it is hard to know exactly what the aim is.  The company claimed that this was a complete surprise as well.

Shares are halted and closed at $6.30 on Tuesday and the 52-week trading range is $6.11 to $11.30.

JON C. OGG