'Annuity King' Faces Sentencing in Fraud Case

The FastLife allegations: Prosecutors accused Wasserman and an accountant, Kenneth Rossman, of persuading Wasserman’s clients to surrender annuities or borrow against cash value life insurance policies to invest in FastLife, concealing information about Wasserman’s background, failing to warn the investors of the costs associated with what they were doing, and using accounting strategies to mislead the investors about FastLife’s performance.

Wasserman used “a significant amount of the victim-investors’ money to finance a lavish lifestyle” that included money spent on a beach house, Tampa Bay Lightning tickets, jet skis and gambling.

Wasserman’s response: Wasserman asserts in a sentencing memorandum that he is a true first-time offender, with no prior convictions, and that the fraud offenses were the result of his efforts to start a legitimate business.

The government’s exhibits show that FastLife spent at least $7.9 million on business-related expenses, including $215,000 spent on celebrity sponsorships, $2.5 million spent on advertising and $667,105 spent on payments to investors, according to the memorandum.

Wasserman says he “simply does not deserve the same punishment as someone who set out to completely swindle victims into investing in a non-existent endeavor.”

Wasserman has also maintained, in other motions, that more attention should have been paid to Rossman’s mental state when Rossman was testifying against Wasserman and that prosecutors failed to acknowledge when accusing him of tax evasion that he had paid $500,000 of the amount owed to the IRS.

Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell has denied Wasserman’s motions seeking a new trial based on prosecutors’ descriptions of Wasserman’s tax obligations.

Magistrate Judge Sean Flynn has denied a request by Wasserman that he be allowed to exercise outside his home, in part because of concerns about “probable cause to believe he committed a felony while on pretrial release in attempting to tamper with a witness,” according to a order posted Tuesday.

Wasserman has asserted that he needs exercise outside because he has been diagnosed with Stage 2 kidney disease and lives in a small home, but “the court … is aware of a myriad of cardiovascular exercises that may be performed at home with no equipment and minimal space,” according to the order. “While Wasserman may prefer to walk in his neighborhood, this preference does not justify modifying the conditions of his release.”

Phillip Roy Wasserman. Credit: Justice Department