Financier Pleads Guilty to More Charges

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Martin Frankel, the financier accused of swindling more than $200 million from insurance companies while living in luxury, pleaded guilty to corruption charges in Mississippi on Friday, more than a week after his guilty plea to federal charges for the same scam.

The 47-year-old former fugitive pleaded guilty to nine counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy and one count of making false statements and representations. He faces up to five years in prison on each count.

Circuit Judge L. Breland Hilburn deferred sentencing for a year as part of a deal with state and federal prosecutors. Frankel has agreed to cooperate in the investigation and possible recovery of assets.

State insurance officials said Friday they have recovered from $80 million to $90 million. Most of the looted money was from Mississippi companies.

Insurance Commissioner George Dale said policyholders have been reimbursed from a state fund financed by assessments on life insurance companies doing business in Mississippi.

Looking pale and thin, Frankel responded only briefly to questions by Hilburn on Friday.

He was represented by a public defender.

Hilburn approved Frankel’s return to authorities in Connecticut.

Frankel is accused of gaining control of small insurance companies in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee and stealing cash from the company reserves. The FBI said he put the money in banks around the world.

In Mississippi, Frankel and unnamed co-conspirators are accused of taking $192 million from First National Life Insurance Co. of America, Franklin Protective Life Insurance Co., and Family Guaranty Life Insurance Co. The companies have been in liquidation since 2000.

He ran the scam from a two-mansion compound in tony Greenwich, Conn., that he turned into a warren of offices with more than 80 computers and wide-screen televisions tuned to financial news channels.

Authorities said Frankel spent money on private planes, luxury cars, pricey wines and lavish gifts for women.

On May 15, Frankel pleaded guilty to 24 federal corruption charges in New Haven, Conn. For those charges, he could get up to 150 years in prison and $6.5 million in fines at sentencing next year.