Originally Posted - July 29, 2006

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Has Michael Schiavo collected death benefits on the life insurance policy that Prudential Insurance Company had issued to Terri Schiavo as one of their employees?

Or was there a viatical settlement years ago in the case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, the brain damaged Florida woman who died on March 31 by court order from injuries suffered in a suspicious incident at her home 15 years earlier?

If so, no doubt only very few people other than her executor, guardian and beneficiary, all the same person-----her estranged husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, would know, and would seem to establish more motive for Schiavo's efforts to kill his disabled wife.

In 1992, Schiavo collected $10,000 from Terri's insurance under a "living needs benefit" from Prudential. Schiavo said in a sworn 1993 deposition that he had opened a safe deposit box at First Union Bank in 1992. When asked what he had done with the money, he testified that he had "stuck it there for safekeeping. From the time of her sudden collapse in 1990 until approximately the middle of 1992 when the payments stopped, he lived off Terri's paycheck from Prudential Insurance Company. So when did he remove the $10,000 and cash and how he'd spent it considering it was Terri's money? More and more cause exists for an auditing of the Schiavo financial records, records that Greer, Felos and Schiavo acted in concert to conceal.

On Terri's death, he could collect death benefits----if he hadn't already received through via a viatical settlement.

By his own admission, Schiavo lived off Terri's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) check of approximately $600 per month for over two years until the court award was handed down from the medical malpractice claim in late 1992.

It appears that Michael Schiavo used all of Terri's money----from the SSI checks to the living needs benefit to the malpractice award that had been earmarked for her therapy and rehabilitation.

And after he expended all of her money, including paying for euthanasia advocate George Felos and other lawyers to end her life, he claimed she was indigent and with the assistance of Felos and Judge George Greer, placed her on Medicaid so the taxpayers could pay for her care while he spent her money.

Terri's mother, Mary Schindler says Schiavo received the living needs money from the insurance policy in 1990, not 1992 as he testified and she personally witnessed him stashing it in the safe deposit box, accompanied by a bank employee who stated that she "wasn't supposed to be seeing this". There is no indication what else he may have "stuck" in that safe deposit box for safekeeping or why the money was not deposited in the bank in an account for Terri. So far, it appears that Michael Schiavo hasn't been held accountable why he was expending Terri's SSI checks.

Terri's mother says she was present at the First Union Bank in 1990 when Michael placed $10,000 cash from Terri's life insurance policy with Prudential in a safe deposit box. To date, no accounting has been found to explain how Michael Schiavo used the proceeds from Terri's life insurance policy nor has any accounting been produced by Michael for the $250,000 received in August, 1992 for an out-of-court settlement in the malpractice suit against Dr. Joel Prawer.

Viatical settlements are sales of life insurance policies on terminally ill people to unrelated investors. Viaticals arose during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, but are now available to other terminally ill individuals. Licensed viatical settlement brokers typically offer suitable policies to viatical settlement companies. The terminally ill insured individual receives an amount of money less than the face value of the policy to use for his or her own purposes, such as medical expenses, travel, final wishes, etc. Investors receive the face value of the policy at the death of the insured.

In order to be admitted to the Woodside Hospice of Hospice of Florida Sun Coast, regulations require that the patient be terminal, a life expectancy of six months or less. Terri wasn't terminal when she was admitted in April 2000 and she remained there for five years, paid for by Medicaid and Medicare while Schiavo used her money to pay Felos to insure that she died.

Typically a viatical settlement involves a person who has a life expectancy of less than two years. This assessment is based on the nature of the illness or condition, and a review of the particular person's records by doctors.

When he and Felos placed her in the hospice with Felos on the board of directors they thought Terri had a life expectancy of less than two years. Schiavo had expected her to die virtually immediately after Greer signed her first death order on Feb. 11, 2000. He expected her to die the first time the feeding tube was pulled on April 24, 2001. He never expected that Cindi Shook would call a radio show and tell the host that Michael Schiavo had absolutely no idea what Terri's wishes were.

Terri Schiavo was not terminal, she was handicapped. She had been placed in Woodside Hospice in April, 2000 which requires a certification that she was terminal with only six months to live. But that wasn't true and the certification wasn't properly signed by the two physicians as required.

Michael Schiavo's concubine at the time, Jodi Centonze, now his wife, is a licensed insurance agent holding licenses with multiple insurance companies. Did she act as his viatical settlement broker?

According to filings made with the Florida Division of Corporations, Centonze was listed as a director for the Liberty American Insurance Agency in a filing with the state on April 26, 2001 indicating that the firm in which she was a director, Jerger and Sons, had been changed to be known as Liberty American in August, 2000. However, at the time of the annual filing for 2002 on April 28, 2002, Centonze's name had been removed as a director but the change was not noted on the annual report.

She had been added as an officer of Jerger and Sons in April, 1998. Other officers and directors listed for Jerger and Sons in April, 1998, the month prior to Schiavo and his attorney, George Felos, filing their petition to end Terri's life with Judge George Greer in May, 1998, were Richard M. Jerger, Centonze's partner; Jerger's brothers, Bruce Meyer and Raymond Blacklidge. Blacklidge, a lobbyist with the Florida Legislature, was also the registered agent of the corporation.

After the name change of Jerger and Sons to Liberty American in August, 2000, on Jan. 11, 2001, a certificate of incorporation was filed for the Jerger and Centonze Insurance Agency Inc., listing the address of the Clearwater home of Centonze and Michael Schiavo, property owned by Centonze, according to Pinellas County assessment records.

Officers and directors of the corporation were listed as Richard M. Jerger Jr., Michael Schiavo and Catherine M. Quinn-Jerger. Schiavo was not a licensed insurance agent or salesman. Could he have been listed for purposes of obtaining a viatical settlement?

The corporation was administratively dissolved on Oct. 4, 2002, scarcely three months after Schiavo had petitioned Greer to place his estranged wife on Medicaid which Greer approved despite the more than $1 million received from medical malpractice claims in 1992, the proceeds of which were earmarked to provide rehabilitation for Terri Schiavo. In determining Medicaid eligibility, all marital assets must be considered, including Michael Schiavo's salary, real estate holdings and bank accounts.

In a viatical settlement, the owner of the life insurance policy (who is typically, but not necessarily, the individual with a life-threatening illness) receives cash for the policy, and the owner transfers the policy to the person buying the policy. In these transactions, the viatical settlement provider becomes the new owner and/or beneficiary of the life insurance policy and is responsible for paying all future premium payments, and collecting the entire death benefit of the policy upon the death of the insured.

In many cases the process is handled by a broker who serves as the intermediary between the person with the life threatening illness (which Terri didn't have) and the person buying the policy. Viaticals are based on a legitimate concept: Allow investors to purchase the life insurance benefits from a terminally ill person, allowing the sick person to receive a partial payment on the policies while they are still alive, which can be a godsend to terminally ill people and their families. The investor pays about 60 to 70 cents on the dollar for the policy, then collects the full death benefit on the policy.

Unfortunately, these programs are often run by scammers and can be disastrous for investors.

Fraudulent viatical settlements schemes have taken off as they can attract people who are desperately in need of more money from their small investment funds, by offering returns that are above market rates. Often most of the money collected from investors go toward purchasing.

In Florida, pursuant to §626.9916, Florida Statute, effective Oct. 1, all viatical settlement broker licenses will terminate. Thereafter, to act as a viatrical settlement broker, an individual must have a valid life agent license and must be self-appointed as a viatical settlement broker. Due to Florida law enacted in 2005, the licensure and self-appointment requirement includes the conduct of business with out-of-state viators. Florida Law requires that life agents only deal with viatical settlement providers licensed in Florida.

On July 1, §626.99175,Florida Statute became effective, requiring that anyone who acts as a life expectancy provider be registered with the Office of Insurance Regulation Thereafter, any viatical settlement broker who obtains life expectancies from an unregistered life expectancy provider may be subject to suspension or revocation of their license and/or fines up to $10,000.

The New York State Insurance Department has prepared of list of 10 questions that consumers should ask about viatical settlement. 7-29-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette