And for still more news on the fraud front:

The Idaho Department of Finance has been awfully busy lately. First, it sued DBSI (see previous blog post). Next, it announced that it is investigating Idaho Falls businessman Daren Palmer for what a department official believes is one of the largest Ponzi schemes in state history. Now, the department is suing a Driggs man and his Utah partner for selling unregistered securities based on viatical insurance death benefit interests and misrepresenting them as guaranteed.

Here’s how AARP says viaticals work: “When you buy a viatical, you purchase the life insurance policy of a terminally ill person at a discounted price from a viatical broker who takes a commission. The ill person gets needed money to help pay expenses and the investor gets the full face value of the policy when the person dies.”

According to the Post-Register in Idaho Falls, a local investor handed $295,000 to the men, only to see all but $30,000 of it disappear. Tyree Mackey, of Driggs, and Jeremy King, the Utah man, allegedly pocketed $60,000 of Driggs resident Elsie Wach's money. The state says a third man, Steven Bowers of Utah — one of two operators of an “investment fund” with whom Mackey and King worked — spent the rest on a Mustang, an overdraft in his personal bank account, commissions to himself, checks to his partner and various personal expenses.

State investigators say Wach was acquainted with Mackey and King.