Did McAuliffe make millions cheating the dying? -- Editorial, The Washington Times

A dark fraud scheme raises questions about the Democratic candidate

The ghosts and goblins of Halloween have retired to their ghoulish places for another year, but there's still Terry McAuliffe and his friends. Mr. McAuliffe, the Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia, is a piece of work. The latest McAuliffe fright to emerge from the shadows is how he came to join an investment group to profit from the helpless and the hopeless waiting to die of AIDS, cancer and other fearsome diseases. The design of the clever scheme was the work of one Joseph Caramadre, a Rhode Island estate planner and generous contributor to the McAuliffe campaign.

Caramadre pleaded guilty last year for his part and went to prison. The scheme involves "death put bonds," and it worked like this: Caramadre posted an advertisement in a Catholic newspaper offering $2,000 in cash to the terminally ill, which many understandably took as an offer of Christian charity. Caramadre and his associates met with them to run a slick and smooth spiel, obtaining enough personal information to open dozens of joint brokerage accounts in the victims' names, either duping them into signing the paperwork or forging their signatures.

The beauty part for the crooks is that through a quirk of the law, the "co-owner" of certain types of bonds are allowed to cash them at full value before the maturity date if the other "co-owner" dies. Caramadre and his associates poured money into the bonds. At the death of their clients, they cashed the bonds, which returned more than $10 million to them. Mr. McAuliffe was one of those making a handsome return on his investment. Mr. McAuliffe further received campaign donations of $26,599 from Caramadre.

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