The State Journal Register has another interesting IL Funeral Mess Article
The “Funeral Directors Lawsuit” against the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Lawsuit was amended and filed on 6.12,09. New defendants were named. A section of the lawsuit blames the office of the comptroller of the State of Illinois “Dan Hynes”. The way this regulator handled this situation should be questioned.
There is an argument that the comptroller’s hands were tied because the Comptrollers Office is not a banking regulator. In fact the regulation of the IFDA preneed trust was set up under then Comptroller and now Senator Roland Burris. The fact is that the IFDA Trust was not set up as a corporate fiduciary with a banking regulator. This cleared the way for the fraudulent ponzi scheme courtesy of the IFDA and Roland Burris.
Now this does not take away responsibility of the State of Illinois or the comptroller in this matter.
On 6.16.09 The State Journal Register quoted the lawsuit on the State (IL) and the Comptroller.
“Even state regulators who took on the responsibility for monitoring the pre-need trust failed to protect plaintiffs and other pre-need trust depositors,” funeral directors say in court documents filed Friday.
“Indeed, when questioned by funeral directors on why the issue was not addressed in 2001, when the (Illinois Office of the Comptroller), but not the funeral directors, knew of a budding deficit, the (comptroller’s) response was that the deficit was ‘pennies on the dollar,’ as if that excused (the comptroller) from doing anything about it.”
Many can be blamed in this mess but the main culprits are the IFDA Leaders with sticky hands out.
Funeral Industry| Funeral Blog by Your Funeral
Tags: blog, Comptroller, dan hynes, funeral industry, IFDA, Illinois Funeral Directors Association, lawsuit, Ponzi, preneed, Roland Burris, trust
Dear Funeral Guy and Funeral Service Friends,
My,my, my……Juicy reading as of late. Thanks Funeral Guy for keeping right on top of things. Sounds like the depositions from the Derivative Lawsuit are bearing true fruit. For those of you who haven’t read the Amended Complaint files 6/12/09, it is a must read.
I believe we are starting to hear the rafters creaking at Suite 15-500 of the Thompson Bldg. in the Windy City. (Hynes’ HQ for the Cemetery Care and Burial Trust Div.) The roof is about to cave in. Dan, Peggy, and Percy are all starting to squirm. Political / Bureaucratic careers coming to an end, soon??? I love the quote where it states that “when the Comptroller’s office, but not the funeral directors, knew of the budding deficit was “pennies on the dollar”, as if that excused (the Comptroller) from doing anything about it.” As I have stated several times before, had anyone of us out here in Illinois been off “pennies on the dollar” on our Trust reports, they would have unmercifully pounced on and made examples of us.
The best one yet is the discovery of the cover up of our own IFDA Board and It’s Executive Director at the time. This has got to be the death knell for these guys. “IFDA …EXPLICITLY.. requested complete and confidentiality of the purported audit, preliminary report, discussions, reports and ultimate findings issued by (the Comptroller’s office),” the plaintiffs say. “OF UTMOST CONCERN TO THE IFDA WAS SHIELDING THIS INFORMATION FROM THE PUBLIC AND, THUS, ITS MEMBERS AND CONSUMERS ACROSS ILLINOIS, TO AVOID ANY NEGATIVE IMPACT SUCH EXPOSURE MIGHT HAVE. ( OMG!!! ) IFDA EVEN WENT AS FAR AS TO REQUEST THAT ALL AUDIT-RELATED MATERIALS BE PROTECTED FROM OTHERWISE LAWFUL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUESTS.” This reads like it came out of Washington DC not Springfield, IL.
Our very own people lying to us, hiding critical information that has proven to be detrimental to the livelihoods of their own colleagues. I’ve been telling you this Board of people serving during this period of time and years prior, had become their own “SECERET SOCIETY,” and the secrets are now being revealed, as predicted.
I would hope striping of licensure and some serious jail time and fine$ are in store for this unconscionable deed. I would now like to address again the dismissal of one Charles Childs, Jr. from the IDFPR, FD&Emb. Licensing and Disciplinary Board, as he would have been sitting on the Board or, on the Executive Board at the time the “Hush Order” was being requested. What a betrayal of your so called “colleagues”.
A round of applause to Mr. Bruce Rushton of the Springfield State-Journal Register for a great story.
Regards,
MarsellusM710