The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo                        June 1, 2017
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

 Dear Governor Cuomo,

I have been unable to get a response from Alphonso David or Maria Vullo with regard to refunds on my MONY insurance policies that were a Ponzi. I am enclosing background information that includes your father's name and I wanted to let you review the information prior to publication.  If you find any of the information to be incorrect please let me know ASAP so that I may correct it.

All I want is a refund of premiums plus interest just like AG Spitzer and AG Blumenthal got for NY and Ct policyholders.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully.

R. Dale Abshire

2606 Twelve Oaks Lane

Colleyville, TX 76034                               817 946 8097

Background:

The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, commonly and hereafter referred to as MONY, was founded in 1843 and recognized as the oldest mutual life insurance company in America. From its inception, MONY was a mutual company, owned by its policyholders and run for their benefit with dividends paid to policyholders. MONY's principal regulator was the New York Department of Insurance.  In 1970 MONY established an investment fund, MONY Fund, which required additional reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

I was employed by MONY from September 01, 1971 thru February 01, 1991 as a Field Underwriter in the Dallas and Richardson Texas Agencies, as a sales manager in the Fort Worth agency in 1982 and as Agency Manager from January of 1986 until February 01, 1991.  From 1982 thru 1990 my duties included the recruiting and training of new Field Underwriters to market MONY life & health insurance products along with securities registered through the Securities and Exchange Commission. I also marketed the products as a dual capacity employee of MONY and a Registered Representative of MONY Securities Corp.

During 1983 Governor Mario Cuomo appointed MONY’s former assistant general counsel James P. Corcoran as Superintendent of the New York Department of Insurance.  At the same time MONY’s board of directors lead by Vinson & Elkins managing partner, A. Frank Smith Jr., went outside to hire James Attwood as its new Chairman.

MONY introduced a series of new products designed for retirement and high increasing death benefits based upon dividends that the company’s actuaries ( Jesse M. Swartz and Rich Tucker ) claimed were conservatively illustrated at a 7 to 7.5% return on the company's invested assets. The products were used in many different ways to illustrate educational savings plans, guaranteed retirement funding, pension maximization and elimination of the survivorship benefit for members of the military as well as replacement of IRA accounts. These policies were widely marketed as sound "investment grade" life insurance contracts accompanied by an array of company furnished sales literature and materials claiming dividend histories that exceeded 155% of illustrated dividends. These products and sales materials were approved by Superintendent Corcoran and the New York Department of Insurance.

During the early 1980s MONY sustained heavy financial losses as the result of a failed attempt at expansion into the financial services industry. In an effort to recoup the losses, MONY's management team concocted a number of schemes to circumvent state insurance laws and adopted a "shoot it all" attitude with policyholder’s funds. Those laws were designed to protect policyholders by limiting investments in risky investments such as real estate and junk bonds. Management also introduced ill-conceived insurance products designed to provide immediate cash flow to the company while encouraging current policyholders to roll their existing polices into the new "investment grade" contracts that would yield greater future dividends. This allowed for a shifting of current dividend obligations to later years. These "investment grade" life insurance policies were a "PONZI" scam approved by the New York Department of Insurance and Superintendent Corcoran.

Simply put, the products were a PONZI and the literature used to defraud the public was false. The dividends had been illustrated based on 11 to 12% return on assets with inflated values as well as nonexistent assets. The company's financial statements were fraudulent, the company was insolvent and had no way of paying the dividends that had been illustrated. At least one million Americans were the victims of this fraud which is ongoing and worsens over time.

Effective February 1, 1991 MONY terminated my contract without cause. As a result of discovery in the ensuing litigation, which was settled to my satisfaction on the eve of trial in 1993, I became concerned for the safety of my pension and investments held by MONY.  In an effort to assuage those concerns I obtained additional documentation from the New York Department of Insurance and agreed to work as a case consultant on several suits against MONY by other employees and policyholders that helped me secure additional information concerning serious criminal activity and a massive fraud on the public. The 1991 NAIC examination of the company (released in 1993) revealed more than $600,000,000 in illegal transactions. You may recall that during the Florida election trials the "Bush Team" named one of America's foremost accountants, Mr. R. Larry Johnson CPA, to testify as an expert witness. Coincidentally, Mr. Johnson had previously been called upon in 1995 to render an opinion on MONY's financial statements and review the N.A.I.C. examinations of the company.  His sworn affidavit is posted at http://pwcsucks.com/id7.html for your review. It should be noted that he did not know that Coopers & Lybrand had been violating the auditor independence rules by selling financial instruments to the company on the side while issuing false opinion letters certifying MONY's financial statements that contained 100s of millions of dollars in fraudulent transactions nor was he aware of the Florida Department of Insurance investigation by current U.S. Senator Bill Nelson that revealed more than a billion dollar surplus shortage on the statements filed in Florida.  The Florida letter to MONY's Chairman, Michael I. Roth is posted @http://www.MONYBUSH.com/. Mr. Roth who signed MONY's fraudulent financial statements is a former Coopers and Lybrand partner and is currently Chairman of the Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. 
 

During the early 90's, I became aware of a secret "Phantom Stock Plan" for officers of the company that was not disclosed on the financial statements. The plan provided payments from profits on a rolling 3 year profit targets. There were never any profits…. but they took millions anyway!  I also learned that the Schedule G filings to the state of New York had been intentionally falsified to hide millions of dollars in compensation paid to individuals and to cover-up a multimillion dollar money laundering scam in the Los Angeles agency during 1991. An officer of the company admitted in March of 1995 that the scam was for a "War Chest" and that the President of the company, Samuel J. Foti, had given the order to "take" the money. I also learned that Mr. Foti had falsified his credentials upon his arrival at MONY and that he did not have a degree from Oxford nor did he have an MBA from the Wharton School of Business as published in the company newspaper.

In late 1994 I obtained a copy of the 1992 audit of the company by the New York, Georgia, Oklahoma and Nevada Departments of Insurance which was done in accordance with N.A.I.C. guidelines. The audit, which revealed hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal transactions and erroneous accounting practices, made no mention of the Secret Phantom Stock Plan and the millions of dollars that had been "looted" from the company as a result of the illegal activities. The New York Department of Insurance first denied any knowledge of the Phantom Stock Plan and denied having any documents relating to the plan. Mr. William Tardogno of the New York Department of Insurance later admitted that the examiners had audited the plan and that it was a "sweetheart deal" for the officers and involved lots of money. He also confirmed that MONY's financial statements were definitely false and that they had not filed proper amendments as required. The New York Department of Insurance then granted "Trade Secret" status to the Phantom Stock Plan and refused to produce any information. 

Beginning in 1995 I reported, as mandated by Article 1.10d of the Texas Insurance Code, suspected fraud in the business of insurance and asked for help for policyholders to the Texas Department of Insurance and to Governor George W. Bush concerning the fraudulent financial statements of MONY, the looting of the company and the PONZI insurance contracts that were used to defraud the public. Mr. Pete Wassdorf, who was General Counsel to Governor Bush and later to Texas AG Greg Abbott, responded on behalf of Governor Bush that they could not help because it would be inappropriate for the governor of Texas to contact the governor of New York and interfere with the operation of a New York domiciled company.

During the same time that I was seeking help from Texas, I contacted Walter Ricciardi in the general counsel's office at Coopers & Lybrand and provided him with documentation including the Johnson affidavit and asked him to help resolve the matter. He informed me that he had checked it out and it was "no problem" selling bonds and financial instruments to MONY while acting as the independent accountant.  Coopers & Lybrand was later merged with Pricewaterhouse. He would later be appointed Deputy Director of Enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

During 1997 I provided Mr. Joseph Dimaria of the Securities and Exchange Commission with documentation of the false financial statements and later got his admission that MONY had in fact filed false financial statements with the SEC. He then said that he could no longer talk to me and hung up. In 1998 I asked Arthur Levitt, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to help policyholders get an accurate financial statement for the company prior to their being asked to vote on demutualization. I received a response from the Northeastern District Administrator, Carmen J. Lawrence, who informed me that MONY did not file financial statements with the SEC and that they could not help me. She was lying! MONY had filed financial statements with the SEC since the early 70's.  The SEC then allowed MONY to go forward with an Initial Public Offering in excess of a billion dollars.  Shortly after the IPO I gave the SEC letters to Michael Schroeder at the WSJ.  Soon afterwards I received a call from SEC attorney Dorothy Heyl wanting to help me resolve the matter and asked me to work with her on the SEC investigation. The SEC then refused to talk to the media because of the confidentiality of their investigation. Three years later Mr. Frank Henderson, FOIA/Privacy Branch Chief, at the SEC admitted that there had never been any investigation. Ms. Lawrence resigned and became Harvey Pitt's co-partner at Fried Frank Harris Schriver and Jacobson and assumed his practice when President Bush appointed him chairman of the SEC.

Prior to the demutualization of MONY I contacted a substantial number of elected officials and asked for their help in obtaining "an accurate, concise and properly opined financial statements, like the law says that I am entitled to for MONY. I also contacted the Dallas office of the FBI and provided them with the sworn affidavit of MONY employee Alexis Daniels detailing the use of company funds by officers for home theaters and stereo systems and falsified expense vouchers to steal from the company. They sent me a letter saying they had transferred the case to their New York office.

After Senator Phil Gramm's office proclaimed him to be "powerless" to cause anyone to produce an accurate financial statement for MONY I contacted Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and asked for her help with the financial statements and in moving the FBI along. I provided the Senator's office with a copy of the N.A.I.C. audit of the company and the letter from the FBI. Her office said they could help. Five months later the best they could do was provide me with another copy of the same N.A.I.C examination of the company that contained over $600,000,000 in illegal transactions and claimed the FBI could find no record of the letter they sent me or any investigation. Senator Hutchison was unable to explain the $687,000 MONY paid to her husband's law firm (Vinson & Elkins) that MONY failed to disclose on the financial statements as required by law.   Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and Fred Thompson both refused to help with a Freedom of Information request for the orphan child of a dead fireman that held the Navy Cross. The request pertained to falsified expense vouchers being used to get money for illegal campaign contributions that I learned about while working as a case consultant on a suit by another MONY manager. I witnessed his admission to an attorney that he had done it with the blessing of two officers of the company. Vinson & Elkins was defending many of the lawsuits brought by MONY agency managers and employees.  I obtained a number of sworn affidavits from court records alleging misconduct by 3 of V&E's attorneys. In Wassell vs MONY V&E attorney Douglas Hamel named a dead man (John McCole) as a witness, and V&E attorney Shadow Sloan then billed the policyholders of the company for a conference call with the corpse! You may recall that Webster Hubbell went to prison for fraudulent billings. The Texas Department of Insurance saw nothing wrong with the fraudulent billings. Jose Montemayor, who was the Texas Commissioner of Insurance, previously told me he saw nothing wrong with MONY's management using falsified expense vouchers to get money for gambling. 

During January 2000 I ask Governor Pataki for his help….. the letter and additional info is posted at http://pwcsucks.com/id10.html.

New York and Connecticut Attorneys General Spitzer and Blumenthal both investigated MONY's sale of the fraudulent PONZI contracts and extracted millions of dollars for the benefit of their respective states and then closed their cases without considering the 100's of thousands of us that had also been victims of the same fraud. As a matter of fact, those of us with the same contracts actually paid the money Spitzer / Blumenthal collected for their constituents. You can review the information and news articles on the http://pwcsucks.com/id10.html web sites.

During mid 2002 the SEC fined PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities LLC $8,000,000 for taking 14 companies public with false financial statements and then refused my many FOI requests to identify the 14 companies. MONY will be one of those companies and most likely the reason that Walter G. Ricciardi was brought to the SEC in early 2004 as the head of the Commission's Boston office and later as the Deputy Director of Enforcement in 2005. Now the SEC says the documents have been destroyed due to retention. 

During 2004 MONY was purchased by AXA with the full knowledge that MONY's financial statements were false and that PricewaterhouseCoopers, who stood on both sides of the sale, was not independent as stated in their opinion letters and had been responsible for the fraud in the first place.  AXA CFO Denis Duverne also refused to provide the requested information to policyholders and shareholders.

Much has been said about the SEC's missed red flags on the Madoff scandal....... MONY was not missed red flags!

To: chairman <chairman@sec.gov>
Sent: Thu, Jun 4, 2015 1:30 pm
Subject: MONY / AXA Ponzi   

:

Chair Mary Jo White

Securities and Exchange 

Dear Ms. White,

Enclosed is additional information for your investigation. Most likely you will find former Governor George W. Bush's not so blind trust investments at the heart of Texas' reluctance to take any action over MONY's Ponzi.  Mr. Bush was aware of Coopers and Lybrand's involvement in MONY's fraudulent financial statements and the looting of the company when he authorized the payment of $17,045 for Coopers & Lybrand to evaluate the Texas Teachers Retirement Fund's real estate portfolio and make recommendations. They recommended the sale of a building in Austin, TX that had a current value of $143,000,000 to Crescent REIT for $97,000,000. About the same time Crescent REIT paid $155,000,000 for MONY properties valued on MONY financial statements at double that amount.  Crescent's stock jumped and Mr. Bush's not so blind trust that was managed by Crescent President John Goff suddenly became profitable. Mr. Bush then announced his run for the presidency and had his investments placed in T-bills.

 Both Governors Perry and Abbott have for many years known of the massive fraud by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Goldman Sachs, Vinson & Elkins, and AXA and have refused to take any action. By separate cover I will send you the information on the New York Department of Insurance and former Governor Pataki.

 Please don't hesitate to contact me for additional information or documentation.

R. Dale Abshire

2606 Twelve Oaks Lane

Colleyville, TX 76034                         

Report Fraud: it's the law!

GRAND JURY ISSUES WARNING....IMPLORES Governor-elect George W. Bush to cleanup fraud and corruption at the Texas Department of Insurance.

"In closing, Your Honor, we are obliged to offer our negative observations of the State Board of Insurance. During our investigation we found closed minds, lack of cooperation, a tendency to overlook and wink at blatant misapplication of funds, filing of false financial statements, and apparent undue influence by outside lobbyists and lawyers,"..."We feel that the State Board of Insurance has become stagnant, content to sit back and allow the insurance companies to regulate themselves without proper supervision or control. View letter..page1, page2, page3.

MONY FILES FRAUDULENT FINANCIAL STATEMENTS IN TEXAS 

According to the sworn affidavit of "Bush Team" endorsed CPA, R. Larry Johnson, MONY first started cooking their books in 1982. Coopers & Lybrand / PricewaterhouseCoopers has issued unqualified opinions falsely claiming to be independent on financial statements with hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal transactions. MONY's Chairman, Michael I. Roth, is a former Coopers & Lybrand partner. Mr. Johnson, whose affidavit is available on this site, was unaware of the Florida Department of Insurance letter to Mr. Roth at the time of his affidavit and did not know of the outside financial dealings between MONY and Coopers & Lybrand that violated the auditor independence rules.

During 1998 PricewaterhouseCoopers used the fraudulent financials to take MONY public with the blessing of the SEC's Northeastern Regional Director, Carmen J. Lawrence. Ms. Lawrence was then rewarded with the position of Co-Partner to Harvey Pitt at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. Mr. Pitt was then appointed Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission by President Bush. Mr. Pitt and his minions at the SEC now refuse to answer FOIA requests to protect PWC and President Bush's illegal dealings with MONY.