SEC Charges Texas Insurance Firm with Deceptive Sale of Investments to Military Personnel

The Securities and Exchange Commission today sued a Waco, Texas, insurance company and its affiliates for targeting American military personnel with a deceptive sales program that misleadingly suggested that investing in the company’s product would make one a millionaire. Since 2000, approximately 57,000 members of the United States military services purchased the product. The vast majority earned little or nothing on their investment.

The Commission’s complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, charged affiliated entities American-Amicable Life Insurance Company of Texas, Pioneer American Insurance Company, and Pioneer Security Life Insurance Company (together, American-Amicable), all based in Waco, Texas, with securities law violations.

American-Amicable has agreed to settle the action by paying $10 million to the approximately 57,000 military personnel who invested in the product sold as an investment known as “Horizon Life.” The settlement is part of a global settlement of claims brought by the Commission, state insurance regulators led by the Georgia Department of Insurance and the Texas Department of Insurance, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The settlement with the other regulators will provide additional relief, which the other regulators value at approximately $60 million. In the agreed settlement, the company has neither admitted nor denied the Commission’s allegations. Pursuant to the settlement, American-Amicable will discontinue sales of Horizon Life and will terminate the deceptive sales program, which it called the “Building Success” system. Read more at sec.gov