Phillip Roy Wasserman, a Sarasota, Florida, annuity producer who once dubbed himself the "annuity king," faces a Jan. 31 sentencing hearing on nine federal felony counts related to the failure of FastLife, a web-based life, health and annuity market firm he started in 2016.
Wasserman has argued that FastLife failed because it had the same kinds of problems that many other unsuccessful startups have and that his intentions were pure.
Prosecutors say the judge should impose a sentence at the high end of federal guidelines because, in addition to misusing $6.3 million in cash from longtime life and annuity clients and failing to pay $952,327 in federal taxes, he went to "incredible lengths … to obscure and conceal his criminal conduct by affirmatively blaming others for the financial devastation he left in his wake."
A jury in a federal court in Tampa, Florida, found Wasserman guilty of the nine counts listed on the verdict form after a trial held in May 2023. The firms listed five counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud. The maximum penalty for each count is 20 years in prison.
Wasserman, who has been representing himself in court, has been at home on house arrest. He did not reply to a request for comment on the case.
Phillip Roy Wasserman: Wasserman, who is now 67, according to the prosecutors' sentencing memorandum, has a law degree from Stetson University.
He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1985. He resigned from the bar in 1997 after facing disciplinary actions related to allegations that he had charged clients too much and handled trust accounts poorly.
He ran Phillip Roy Financial Services from 1990 through 2010 and then started and ran American Tax & Annuity Advisors in 2010.
He also started Snowflake's Dog Rescue, a nonprofit animal rescue organization.
FastLife, the online quote service, had sections for life insurance, long-term care insurance and cancer insurance as well as for annuities.
