Retirement funds were the biggest losers; Why does Healthcare relate to pensions?

Trial Begins For Execs Of Collapsed Health Care Financing Company
Feb 06 2008 7:24PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Opening statements are scheduled Thursday morning in what federal prosecutors have portrayed as one of the largest corporate fraud cases since Enron.

National Century Financial Enterprises was based in Dublin before it went under in 2002, 10TV's Paul Aker reported.

The government said the officials conspired to defraud investors by diverting their money for improper uses, making up data in financial reports and moving money back and forth between accounts to conceal shortfalls in investor funds.

Prosecutors said five executives paid off their personal debts.

Some lived in mansions, like a $1.1 million home at Dublin's Muirfield Village Golf Club. At the same time, the company was going broke before finally falling into bankruptcy and taking hundreds of its own medical company clients with it, Aker reported.

The impact also stung Wall Street. Retirement funds were the biggest losers, from city employees in Arizona to police in New York. American investors lost nearly $3 billion.

While the corporate executives were allegedly running their business into the ground, at least one was living like a millionaire. 10 Investigates found a home belonging to National Century senior executive Don Ayres. Neighbors said Ayres rarely uses it. Real estate records show he also lives in Fort Myers Fla.

The defendants are not taking reporters' questions but will likely spend the next two months answering their criminal charges. They could face life in prison, Aker reported.

Former National Century executives, including ex-chief executive officer Lance Poulsen, will go on trial later this year.

Stay with 10TV and refresh 10TV.com for continuing coverage.