Fla. lawyer convicted in $800M fraud case

MIAMI (AP) – A South Florida attorney has been convicted for his role in an $800 million insurance fraud scheme involving investments in death benefits.

A jury on Wednesday convicted 64-year-old Anthony Livoti Jr. of money laundering and fraud conspiracy in the Mutual Benefits Corp. case. Livoti was acquitted of several other counts but still faces decades in prison because of the fraud’s size.

Now-defunct Mutual Benefits sold investments in life insurance policies held by people with chronic illnesses such as AIDS and cancer. The investor would get paid when the original policyholder died, but hundreds of people lost about $830 million because of fraud.