Met Life Is Expected to Face Fraud Indictment

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., the nation’s second-largest life insurer, has been told by federal prosecutors that it is likely to be indicted for fraudulent sales practices by the end of the year, lawyers with knowledge of the investigation said. A federal grand jury in Tampa, Fla., has spent five years investigating whether Met Life deceptively marketed whole life insurance policies by representing them as savings and retirement plans from 1989 to 1993, said five lawyers involved with the case. The grand jury has until December, when the statute of limitations expires, to decide whether to indict the company for mail and wire fraud, said the lawyers. New York-based Met Life declined comment, except to say it’s cooperating with the federal investigation. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined comment. “We’ve cooperated from Day One and don’t think it’s appropriate to be speaking about a matter that the U.S. attorney should speak about first,” Met Life spokesman Kevin Foley said.