But a new Indianapolis Star report reveals just how far Bayh was willing to go to profit off of his connections.
The Star looks into Bayh’s seven-figure stake in an offshore insurance firm that has already been reported as the subject of a class action lawsuit for scamming seniors.
It gets worse.
Bayh is also heavily invested in highly controversial scheme that buys out life insurance plans so it can bank profits when seniors pass away quickly:
“Those investments include two limited partnerships — FCI Co-Investors I and II — that deal in so-called life settlements. The investments are controversial because they involve buying out ill and elderly people’s life insurance policies, in hopes of making a profit when those people die. The sooner the person dies, the more money investors make.
“Bayh reported investments of $250,001 to $500,000 in each of the two FCI partnerships.” (Chelsea Schneider and Tony Cook, “Bayh Invests In Offshore Company,” Indianapolis Star, 11/2/16)
The investment in seniors’ misfortune is just one of multiple offshore holdings that are part of Bayh’s personal fortune, which is estimated to be as high as $47.7 million. The Star notes that when Bayh was in office, he crusaded against the very offshore tax schemes that are now making him rich, calling companies that moved to tax havens like Bermuda “unpatriotic.”
“Athene Holding and its Bermuda re-insurance company ‘are incorporated under the laws of Bermuda and intend to operate in a manner that will not cause either to be treated as being engaged in a trade or business within the United States or subject to current U.S. federal income taxation on their net income,’ according to an Aug. 31 regulatory filing.
“Back in 2004, Bayh had blasted ‘unpatriotic companies’ that were ‘skipping out from paying their fair share of taxes,’ according to a news release. At the time, Bayh was working to close what he described as the ‘Bermuda loophole,’ an effort to end the practice of companies opening a post office box in an overseas country to save on taxes.” (Chelsea Schneider and Tony Cook, “Bayh Invests In Offshore Company,” Indianapolis Star, 11/2/16)
These must be the “Hoosier values” Bayh likes to talk about: profiting off the misfortune of seniors and getting rich off of the offshore tax havens he used to oppose. Evan Bayh represents everything people hate about politicians, and Hoosier families can’t trust him to look out for anyone but himself.