2010
Tomme Bromseth pleaded guilty to mail fraud and structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements in connection with his sale of life-settlement investments for Houston-based A&O Life Funds and other A&O entities.
According to court documents, Bromseth sold nearly $3.1 million in A&O products to 15 investors between July 2006 and November 2007.
Bromseth, whose plea was entered Sept. 16 in U.S. District Court in Virginia, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the mail fraud charge and a maximum term of five years in prison for the structuring charge.
Bromseth admitted to misrepresenting the risks associated with A&O investments, as well as his qualifications to sell such investments. A life settlement is the sale of a life insurance policy to a third party where the buyer pays the premiums to keep the policy in force and then collects the death benefit when the insured dies.
The continuing investigation into the A&O entities is being conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Internal Revenue Service, the FBI, and the Texas State Securities Board.