SANTA ANA – An insurance agent was arrested today for defrauding 18 business owners by stealing more than $2.5 million in money they had paid him to take out insurance policies for their businesses. Anthony David Medina, 36, was charged yesterday with 153 felony counts including 86 counts of forgery, 33 counts of transacting as an insurance company without a certificate of authority, 19 counts of grand theft, five counts of filing false tax returns, four counts of willfully failing to file a tax return, four counts of identity theft, two counts of insurance fraud, and sentencing enhancement allegations for excessive taking over $50,000 and $150,000.  Medina was arrested today at a business in Oxnard and is being held on $2,936,000 bail. In order to post bond he must prove that the money is from a legitimate source. Medina faces a maximum sentence of 54 years and four months in state prison if convicted on all counts.

Medina’s wife, Vanessa Chaverri, 36, arrested today at a Ladera Ranch home, is charged with five felony counts of filing a false return. She is being held on $436,000 and must prove the money is from a legitimate source before posting bail. Chaverri faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if convicted.

Medina and Chaverri are expected to be arraigned Thursday, April 24, 2008 at the Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

Between June 2003 and November 2007, Medina is accused of operating Prompt Insurance Agency in Newport Beach. The defendant is accused of collecting more than $2.5 million from 18 business owners, including restaurants, plumbing and painting businesses, and other service oriented businesses. Medina is accused of taking money from the businesses under the pretense of securing workers compensation and general liability insurance policies for them.

Medina is accused of failing to take out insurance policies for many of the businesses and charging the victims more than the stated premiums. In some instances he is accused of forging documents to finance insurance policy premiums instead of paying the full amount up front to the insurance company, despite the fact that the victims had paid him the total cost of the policy premium.

Medina is accused of issuing false certificates of insurance to some of his victims. The defendant is accused of creating false policy numbers or giving companies policy numbers that actually belonged to other businesses.

As a result of Medina’s failure to take out insurance policies for some of the businesses, several business owners and employees suffered losses that should have been covered by insurance. In some cases, employees who had been injured at work did not receive the workers compensation benefits they were due because their employer did not have the workers compensation insurance they had paid Medina to secure. Many of the business owners had to pay for employee workers compensation care that should have been covered by insurance. 

Between 2003 and 2006, Medina is accused of failing to file any tax returns for Prompt Insurance Agency. Chaverri and Medina are accused of failing to report the income from the stolen monies on their personal tax returns. They are accused of failing to pay more than $230,000 in taxes, and passing that loss of revenue on to California taxpayers. The defendant was using the stolen money for personal use on his expensive lifestyle, including cars, homes, and a boat.

The Department of Insurance (DOI) began investigating this case when an insurance company filed a report after finding a discrepancy in a financed policy taken out through Prompt Insurance Agency.

"The victimized business owners were trying to make an honest living and take out insurance to protect themselves, their employees, and their customers," said Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. "Insurance agents hold a fiduciary duty of trust to their customers that they will be there to cover the loss when things go bad. This case shows how much damage a single dishonest agent can cause, not only to hard working business owners, but to taxpayers who are forced to absorb the cost of fraud."

“It is unconscionable to expose employers and potentially injured workers to severe liability,” said Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. “Insurance fraud cannot be tolerated and we will continue working with our local law enforcement partners to bring these alleged perpetrators to justice.”  

Designed to help producers build substantial deal pipelines within 30 days, the Certification Program kicks off with a full-day, onsite interactive training session and continues with specific milestones that need to be completed by the 15th and 30th days. Peachtree LBP support staff will assist producers with every aspect of the process.

The Certification Program is an outgrowth and expansion of the “Best Practices” training that was introduced last fall. According to Robert Gaspard, Vice President and Director of LBP®, “Producers who adopted LBP’s ‘Best Practices’ closed business at a rate seven times that of producers who did not. We believe that the Certification Program will help producers rapidly develop their pipelines and increase their conversion ratios.”

Certification is by "invitation only" and each Certification candidate must be sponsored by an insurance carrier, BGA/IMO, MGA or similar organization. Candidates also may be sponsored by an existing Certified producer. A key to success in the LBP 401(k) Plus Certification Program is the identification of five prospective business clients at the Day 1 session. Accordingly, only those producers who make a commitment to contact at least five prospective business clients and who also commit to follow the entire LBP 401(k) Plus Certification Program will be invited to participate.

Producers who complete the 30-day program, including successful completion of the Day 15 and Day 30 performance requirements, will earn the designation of "LBP 401(k) Plus® Certified."

About Peachtree LBP

Peachtree LBP Finance Company, LLC (“Peachtree LBP”) is the Administrator of LBP 401(k) Plus and a subsidiary of Peach Holdings, Inc. LBP 401(k) Plus is a turnkey, individually owned retirement program that emulates a traditional 401(k) plan for highly compensated employee-participants, while permanently eliminating top-heavy, non-discrimination testing issues for employer/sponsors. For further information about Peachtree LBP or LBP 401(k) Plus, please visit our website at www.PeachtreeLBP.com or call Barry Vose at 1-800-370-6368.  www.peachholdings.com. 

SIMSBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Almost 186,000 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year. While it’s a diagnosis no one wants to hear, the chances of surviving prostate cancer and living a full life are far better than they used to be. Thanks to early detection and improved treatment options, 93 percent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer today will live at least ten years. That compares with just 50 percent in the 1980s, according to the National Cancer Institute.

In response to the improved prognosis, The Hartford has become the first insurer in the nation to offer life insurance at standard rates to men who have been successfully treated with radiation for moderate levels of prostate cancer. In the past, these survivors often had to wait several years to become eligible to buy life insurance and even then had to pay significantly more for their coverage for up to five years.

“We identified prostate cancer as a disease that has become far more treatable in recent years and concluded that we can begin offering life insurance to more men who want it," said Brian Murphy, executive vice president and director of The Hartford's individual life division.

Under The Hartford’s new underwriting guidelines, standard rates are available to men 70 and older who have been treated with radiation for moderately aggressive prostate cancer. The cancer must be confined to the prostate and the man must have a strong prognosis for survival based on the level of a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood of 0.5 or less after treatment. Standard rates, which are in effect for insurance policies issued by Hartford Life Insurance Co. and Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Co., subsidiaries of The Hartford, are the same rates offered to most healthy men of the same age. www.thehartford.com. 

LONDON (Reuters) - Financial services companies must change their attitude to security to curb the rise in identity fraud, the Financial Services Authority says.

The FSA issued the warning following a review of data security systems and controls at 39 firms including banks, building societies, insurance companies and financial advisers.

Although it found examples of good practice across the industry, it said firms underestimated the risk of data loss and fraud to their businesses -- especially to their customers.

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A.D.A.M., Inc. (NASDAQ: ADAM) today announced the presentation of the first-ever A.D.A.M. Apple Award to Premier Resorts International President and CEO Barbara Zimonja and COO Brad Goulding. The award, which was presented at Premier Resorts’ semi-annual General Managers meeting on April 22 in Maui, Hawaii, recognizes these leaders for actively inspiring employees to live healthy.

“A.D.A.M. believes that the impetus for individuals to take care of themselves comes from many facets of their lives, and employers should do what they can to support them and set a great example,” said Greg Juhn, senior vice president of product development at A.D.A.M., Inc. “Leaders who recognize this and institute wellness initiatives, such as offering online health tools, deserve to be recognized so that other employers can be inspired to take similar steps. A healthy attitude is contagious, both within a company and across companies.”

A.D.A.M.’s Benergy is an employee health, benefits and human resources portal. It powers a website where employees can find facts, education, decision tools, links, forms and just about anything else related to their benefits and human resources programs. Benergy also guides employees through benefits decisions during open enrollment and new hire orientation. To learn more about Benergy visit http://www.adam.com/. 

RIDGWAY, CO, April 23, 2008  --- Lincoln National currently has lawsuits pending against Transamerica Life Insurance Company and Jackson National Life Insurance Company for allegedly infringing two of its patents: US6,611,815 and US7,089,201.  Lincoln is claiming that these two patents give it certain rights with respect to features of a guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit (GMWB) and that Transamerica and Jackson National are infringing those rights.

Information on the Intellectual Property Analysis can be found at: http://BakosEnterprises.com/IPA. 

LIDP Consulting Services, Inc. announces the availability of the 2008 release of The Administrator.  The Administrator is the insurance industry’s first and only truly 24x7 online real-time policy administration, claim administration and agency management system with support for all life, health and annuity products. 

Business Enhancements

•           Worksite/Group Processing

•           Living Benefits

•           Combination Products

The 2008 release of The Administrator, like previous releases, includes enhancements that will enable LIDP customers to maximize sales. 

Industry experts predict that Group/Worksite marketing will continue to grow at a tremendous rate.  LIDP support for the Group/Worksite marketplace continues to grow as well.

•           Information about the employer and the enroller

•           Customized products pertaining to an enrollment 

•           Products, benefit limits and underwriting offers varied by employer-defined relationships

•           Efficient enrollment process

•           Automated underwriting process

•           All-inclusive and real-time certificate management process

•           A wide range of product support 

•           Employer level billing including all employees or segregate employee groups on an employer-defined basis

http://www.lidp.com

Short-term fluctuations moves aren’t important, but if you take your eye off the ball and make sudden moves, you can do real damage, says Lyn Dippel, CFP, a senior advisor with Financial Advantage, a fee-only planning firm in Columbia, Md., that specializes in retirement planning.  

“You need to find the right course and hold to it no matter which way the winds blow on Wall Street,” she says.

Dippel offers some planning basics:

·         How much money do you need to retire?  There’s no “magic number.”  It’s different for everyone.  The only way to tell how much you need is to crunch the numbers and come up with detailed projections

·         Guidelines like “you’ll need 70 to 80% percent of your preretirement income” are simplistic.  Instead, ask how much you will spend when retired.  “It’s easy to underestimate expenses. Spending habits don’t change much,” Dippel says.  “And many retirees like to travel and hence spend more than ever during the early years of retirement.”

·         Leave a cushion for unexpected expenses.  Many people in their 60s are now supporting elderly parents who’ve run out of money.   Many are spending around $1,000 a month on care for a relative.  “Few people plan for this,” she says.

·         It’s not how much you make.  It’s how much you save.  Dippel often sees people who made lots of money and have little to show for it. She also counsels people like schoolteachers who had more modest incomes, lived within their means and saved up $1 million or more.  

·         Take a strategic look at all your assets and sources of income—taxable funds, tax-deferred plans, pensions, Social Security, real estate.  “Taking a global view that considers taxes, liquidity and everything else is the only way you can make intelligent investment and planning decisions, including which accounts to draw from first,” she says. 

Financial Advantage provides personal financial planning and investment-management services to retirees and aspiring retirees on a fee-only basis.  Wealth Manager magazine has named Financial Advantage as one of the top 200 independent financial advisory firms in the country for the past five years.  Web:  www.financialadvantageinc.com

The benefits of these new relationships with Peachtree, Polaris and UNF do not end with the agents, but extend to their clients who will benefit by receiving the best product fit due to access to more carrier approved premium finance programs. http://www.lifebrokeragepartners.com.

April 23, 2008 - Washington, D.C. - The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI), the national trade organization for professionals dedicated to serving the long-term care planning needs of individuals, has launched a national campaign to secure a Presidential proclamation declaring November as Long-Term Care Awareness Month.  

“Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives and several Governors issued resolutions supporting Long-Term Care Awareness Week," explains Jesse Slome, the Association's executive director.  "With the expansion of the program to a full month (November), we are going to leave no stone unturned to secure Presidential-level support for this year's effort." 

The goal of Long-Term Care Awareness Month is educating Americans to the risk of needing long-term care as a result of an accident, illness or aging.  "We will work together with leading associations that serve insurance and financial professionals as well as those organizations that support home care providers, assisted living communities, nursing homes and individuals," Slome notes.  "Everyone has a stake in creating heightened awareness of this important issue."

For more information on becoming involved in the Awareness Month campaign, contact the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, Jesse Slome, Executive Director at (818) 597-3227 or via E-mail, jslome@aaltci.org.

Contact:   American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance

(818) 597-3227   E-mail:  jslome@AALTCI.org

Geezeo combines free, easy-to-use online personal finance tools with the power of social networking to provide the resources and motivation consumers need to achieve their financial goals. Geezeo allows users to instantly and automatically track bank accounts and credit card balances, as well as investments, mortgages, student loans and auto loans. The Geezeo platform connects to more than 6,000 financial institutions and boasts bank-level security precautions to ensure the safety of user data.

In addition to giving users a single platform to access all of their financial information, Geezeo offers a tagging functionality that makes it easy to create budgets, track spending, set financial goals and interact with a community dedicated to improving financial habits. www.geezeo.com

East Room

3:50 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Welcome. I'm glad you're here. Thanks for coming. Nothing better, being in the East Room of the White House with successful entrepreneurs, small business owners -- dreamers and doers who really add such richness to our country. So I welcome you here. I'm glad you're here. It's exciting to be here, isn't it? After seven and a half years, it's still exciting for me, too. (Laughter.) And I'm really glad you're here.

I want to thank Steve Preston. He's done a fantastic job as the head of the SBA -- so good that I named him to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. And I congratulate you, Steve, for taking the job. (Applause.) I'm looking forward to getting the Senate to take up your nomination quickly and get you approved.

So, Small Business Week. The truth of the matter is, every day ought to be Small Business Day in America, because -- (applause.) People say, why? Well, first of all, small businesses create over two-thirds of all new jobs in America. And if you want your economy to grow, and if you want the country to be hopeful, it seems like you ought to be celebrating the talent and the energy of our small business owners -- daily. But we've decided to do it yearly -- Small Business Week. I presume that's one week out of the year. (Laughter.)

And so the first thing I've got to do is congratulate all the award winners who are here. Thanks. It's -- owning a small business is hard. It's not an easy experience. (Applause.) I've had the pleasure of getting to meet a lot of small business owners during my time as, first, governor of Texas, and then President of the country. And you'll be amazed at how many times people have said, well, you know, it all started around the kitchen table. You'll also be amazed at how many family members are involved in the creation and the operation of a small business. And our fellow citizens wouldn't be amazed to know that the number of hours required to make sure the business is going is a lot. But the thing that struck me the most, besides the fact that people are willing to dream and work hard, is how proud the small business owner is of the employees with whom the person works, and how caring the owner is to make sure that those who've helped the business succeed are treated well.

© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

The comments were made on an earnings conference call after the insurer posted an 11 percent drop in net income. Operating results beat Wall Street expectations. (Reporting by Lilla Zuill; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

Blackstone's (BX.N: ) global opportunistic fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI, led the way with a record final closing of $10.9 billion.

Preqin said the total amount raised globally in the first quarter was bettered only once last year -- in the second quarter, just before the start of a global credit crunch -- and left the market on track to break above $100 billion in 2008 for the first time.

"Investors view private equity real estate funds as a long term investment prospect, and despite credit conditions many are increasing their allocation to the asset class," Preqin spokesman Ignatius Fogarty said in a statement.

Preqin said a third of 307 private equity real estate funds currently trying to raise capital had already reached their interim closings and were targeting an aggregate $53.8 billion.

(Reporting by William Kemble-Diaz; Editing by Rory Channing)

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

LONDON (Reuters) - Private medical insurance is growing in popularity, with surveys showing fear of dirty NHS hospitals and quicker treatment as the main reasons.

The number of people covered by private medical insurance (PMI) has broken the six million mark for the first time in five years, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Just over six million people were covered by either personal or corporate PMI in 2007, with a further 1.1 million covered through healthcare trust arrangements -- meaning 7.14 million Britons now have some form of private health cover.

Insurer BUPA said it has seen a 20 percent increase in sales in the first three months of 2008, despite the economic downturn.

A BUPA survey of 1,049 people shows that the top reasons for taking out PMI are clean hospitals, no waiting lists, faster access to specialists, better quality treatment and advice, and the ability to chose the time and location of hospital appointments.

Fergus Kee, managing director of Bupa UK Health Insurance, said: "For 65 percent of Britons, access to clean hospitals is the most important reason for taking out PMI. MRSA and general hospital hygiene are clearly top concerns for people.

"People also tell us that they value the fact that PMI gives them access to drugs and treatments not widely available on the NHS."

© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved.