Life Settlement Policies At Heart Of Fraud Case
By Bill Wilson, The Wichita Eagle |
Lundberg and Elzufon now have doubts about those policies, saying in a weekend news release that they "may have been defrauded" by a tenant in one of their downtown Wichita buildings when they bought interests in the policies. Those policies have landed the downtown Wichita developers in hot water with the state, thrown the future of their Wichita buildings into doubt and left their other projects across the country in limbo.
They are victims, Lundberg said, not participants in a scheme to defraud a Topeka bank.
"We didn't do anything wrong," Lundberg said Monday.
Lundberg and Elzufon -- known locally as the Minnesota Guys -- and
The order alleges that
An investigation continues, and state officials have not ruled out criminal charges in the case.
Lundberg said Monday that one policy under state scrutiny, a life insurance policy Lundberg owned an interest in that covered an unnamed
"Yes, I absolutely thought we had legitimate policies, but yes, if the state thinks they're fraudulent, then I can see why they included us in the order," Lundberg said. "In their mind, they (state officials) felt the policies were fraudulent and maybe when they filed the complaint they suspected we knew they were fraudulent."
Elzufon and Lundberg said in the Saturday news release that they've learned "they may have been defrauded by Hybrid Asset Management and its principals via their purchase of certain life insurance policies from them."
" ... they have subsequently lost their entire investment in the policy," the
Lundberg said on Monday his group is considering a civil lawsuit against Hybrid over the policies.
The Eagle contacted Williams, the general manager of Hybrid, on Monday for a response to Lundberg's allegations. Williams did not return calls seeking comment.
Lundberg and
Lundberg said he continues to believe his company and partner will be dropped from the order.
"We asked them to, and they weren't quite ready to," he said. "I think we did have quite good conversations ... and I think this will be resolved soon."
Kruske declined to comment on the status of the investigation and on Lundberg's claims that his company and partner will be dropped from the order.
Elzufon told The Eagle two weeks ago that deal still was on the front burner, as
But city officials, unhappy with
Lundberg and Elzufon say the state's order has jeopardized the Wichita project, and others they're pursuing in
"Up to this point, we're still trying to do the deal," Lundberg said about the
Lundberg said Wichita city officials are assuming "we are absolutely guilty" in the wake of the media coverage surrounding the state's order.
"We've got the same thing in
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Source: | McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
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