Families of dead US vets accuse insurer of massive scam

Prudential cheated the families of dead U.S. soldiers and Marines out of more than 100 million dollars in interest on their life-insurance policies, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in a Massachusetts federal court. The suit, brought by the parents of two veterans who committed suicide after returning home from Iraq, came as the Pentagon, the Department of Veterans Affairs and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo all announced investigations into the allegations, first disclosed by Bloomberg Markets magazine this week. "We want the government and the business world to understand that they need to stop the policy of profiting off the deaths of our loved ones," said one of the plaintiffs, Kevin Lucey, whose son, former Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey, hanged himself on Jun. 22, 2004, after returning home from his first tour. "They sacrificed their lives," Lucey said. "No one should profit from that." The lawsuit cites VA reports showing that Prudential, as the administrator of government-backed veterans' policies, earned interest of more than 5.69 percent on life-insurance funds that it held for beneficiaries.