The Cassity shell game may have came to an end this past week when aFederal judge ordered the seizure of NPS computers and 260 bankers boxes of records. Taking a page from a Six Feet Under script, NPS officers sought to conceal their misdeeds by hiding records and computers in crypts located at
NPS/Lincoln
The Cassity Plea Agreement: Extenuating Circumstances
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in NPS/Lincoln
I have only scanned Doug Cassity’s plea agreement once, but two issues jumped out from that document. The plea agreement is based on the US Sentencing Guidelines, and Page 28 of agreement explains that the Government and the defendant did not agree as to whether guidelines relating to economic losses should be applicable …
The NPS Criminal Trial: Vicarious Liability?
By Bill Stalter on
David Wulf may stand alone in the crosshairs of the criminal prosecutors, but his fate will impact the NPS preneed trustees (and possibly other registered investment advisors who manage death care funds).
Mr. Wulf had a situation that is unique from what existed in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Tennessee, but is familiar to other death care…
Coming This August: The Nuremberg Trial
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in NPS/Lincoln
Once again, I have spoken too quickly.
After lamenting to the Memorial Business Journal that the NPS plea bargains will deprive consumers and the industry the opportunity to hear how Doug and his crew perpetrated so many frauds, the sole remaining NPS defendant may grant my wish. As the Funeral Service Insider reports that Herr…
The Cassity Plea: A new shell game?
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in NPS/Lincoln, Preneed
This was not the ending that most expected. After decades of playing shell games with regulators and funeral homes, Doug Cassity accepted a plea bargain rather than go to trial. Brent Cassity also accepted a plea bargain, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that attorneys for one of the remaining defendants were scurrying to…
The NPS Recovery Plan: Grounded!
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Legislation, NPS/Lincoln
In our prior post, we commented on the lack of detail provided by the Consumer Funeral Assurance group regarding their NPS recovery plan. We have obtained a copy of the plan, and redacted from the document correspondence that reflect names and/or contact information of recipient organizations or legislators. What is left includes a summary …
Addressing the NPS aftermath: a hard sell
By Bill Stalter on
Per capita, Missouri funeral directors were hit hardest by the collapse of National Prearranged Services. And those funeral directors who suffered the greatest losses continue to demand help from the State of Missouri. Although Missouri re-wrote its preneed law just 3 years ago, the Legislature begins hearings today on whether more legislation is …
SB340: Missouri’s 2011 Preneed Patch
By Bill Stalter on
Continuing the theme that effective preneed regulation requires the occasional update, the Missouri legislature is poised to pass the first ‘patch’ to SB1, the 2009 legislation that ‘re-wrote’ Chapter 436. Senate Bill No. 340 will make four noteworthy changes to Chapter 436.
Concerned that preneed sellers would use variable annuities to fund preneed contracts, Missouri’s…
The thorn that will not go away: NPS and Missouri’s Governor
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Missouri - SB1, NPS/Lincoln
Yesterday, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported on the federal indictments handed down against six NPS officials. The article includes two statements that hint at the legal strategies to be employed by NPS and federal prosecutors.
"We have anticipated this (indictment) for a number of years, and he is looking forward to finally confronting these…
Mt. Washington: More NPS Fallout
By Bill Stalter on
Posted in Cemeteries, NPS/Lincoln
Almost a year to the date after SB1 was signed into law, one of the NPS sister companies was forced to close its doors. The recent Kansas City Star article about Mt. Washington Forever Funeral Home and Cemetery describes a situation that confused and disheartened the families who purchased Mt. Washington preneed contracts. The Missouri…