Caramadre’s client list revealed

CRANSTON, R.I. – Terence McAuliffe, the former chairman of the national Democratic Party and current Virginia governor-elect, was one of hundreds of people who invested in variable annuities that used terminally ill patients as the annuitants.

McAuliffe and others became owners of the investment instruments through Cranston estate planner Joseph Caramadre. Caramadre pleaded guilty to stealing the identities of terminally ill patients and using that information to falsely apply for annuities and bonds with death puts.

Prosecutors said Caramadre cost insurance companies between $37 million and $48 million from the scheme.

Caramadre, with the help of a partner, would use personal information from terminally ill patients on investment applications that contained death benefits. The actual owners of the annuity would be Caramadre or hundreds of investors. In exchange for the personal information, Caramadre often times would help the families of the terminally ill to pay for funeral expenses.