A federal program that collects information about possible cases of money laundering is receiving some reports on life settlement transactions.
Officials at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a branch of the U.S. Treasury Department, have discussed those reports in a catalogue of about 1,300 "suspicious activity reports" that insurers filed with FinCen from May 2007 to May 2008.
A provision in the USA PATRIOT Act required insurers to start filing SARs in May 2006.
Most of the insurance-related SARs filed from May 2007 to May 2008 concerned life insurance policies and annuities, but about 25 of the SARs involved life settlements, FinCen officials report.
The 25 life settlement transactions included viatical settlement arrangements and stranger-originated life insurance policies.
The types of life policies involved included:
- Universal life – 12.
- Life policies with loans – 4.
