The Florida Senate

626.99275  Prohibited practices; penalties.--

(1)  It is unlawful for any person:

(a)  To knowingly enter into, broker, or otherwise deal in a viatical settlement contract the subject of which is a life insurance policy, knowing that the policy was obtained by presenting materially false information concerning any fact material to the policy or by concealing, for the purpose of misleading another, information concerning any fact material to the policy, where the viator or the viator's agent intended to defraud the policy's issuer.

(b)  In the solicitation or sale of a viatical settlement purchase agreement:

1.  To employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud;

2.  To obtain money or property by means of an untrue statement of a material fact or by any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; or

3.  To engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon a person.

(c)  To knowingly engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business intending thereby to avoid the notice requirements of s. 626.9924(7).

(2)  A person who violates any provision of this section commits:

(a)  A felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, if the insurance policy involved is valued at any amount less than $20,000.

(b)  A felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, if the insurance policy involved is valued at $20,000 or more, but less than $100,000.

(c)  A felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, if the insurance policy involved is valued at $100,000 or more.

History.--s. 11, ch. 99-212; s. 9, ch. 2000-344; s. 53, ch. 2001-63.