Well a little good news !
Pardo is getting the heat turned up on his slimy ass.
By MIKE COPELAND
mcopeland@wacotrib.com Federal law enforcement officials Monday confiscated vehicles belonging to Brian Pardo, founder and longtime chief executive of Life Partners Holdings, a company facing $46.9 million in fines for misleading investors about life insurance policies they had purchased from clients who were terminally ill.
Judith Burns, a spokeswoman for the Securities and Exchange Commission, confirmed during a phone interview that vehicles belonging to Pardo had been seized in response to a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge James Nowlin ruling that included a $6.1 million civil penalty Pardo was ordered to pay.
She said the U.S. Marshals Service acted on behalf of the SEC in carrying out the seizures, but said she could provide no details about vehicles taken.
Pardo and Life Partners general counsel and secretary R. Scott Peden are appealing Nowlin’s final judgment. They filed a motion asking that enforcement of the judgment be delayed or modified until the appeals process is complete, with Pardo claiming a net worth of $1.5 million that would not allow him to pay his penalty.
He reportedly proposed making a $50,000 cash deposit and pledging 100 percent of his common stock in Life Partners.
U.S. Magistrate Andrew W. Austin, in rejecting Pardo’s request, said Pardo had failed to provide the court with a verified accounting of his financial condition.
An unverified financial statement shows that Pardo’s salary in 2014 was $667,267; he owns real estate valued in excess of $1 million; he owns four airplanes, two of which are luxury jets; and owns automobiles worth $369,000, including a Mercedes Benz SLS with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of more than $225,000.
Even this unverified report fails to support Pardo’s request to have the judgment modified while he is appealing the ruling, Austin said.
Pardo did not return calls to his home and business Monday seeking comment.
Nowlin, who presided at the trial of Life Partners last year, ordered Life Partners to pay $15 million in illegal profit and $23.7 million in civil penalties.
He ordered Pardo to pay the $6.1 million that prompted Monday’s actions, while levying a $2 million penalty against Peden.
The case in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas generated national attention because of the company’s unusual business of providing “life settlements,” in which the holder of a life insurance policy sells the policy to an investor in exchange for a lump sum. Federal regulators accused the company and its leaders of defrauding investors.
In the wake of Nowlin’s ruling, Life Partners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it appeals the issue.
Since its incorporation in 1991, Life Partners Inc. reports it has completed more than 162,000 transactions for more than 30,000 individuals and institutions in connection with the purchase of more than 6,500 policies totaling $3.2 billion in face value.