Court Upholds Florida Regulators’ Authority to Investigate Viatical Settlement Firms

A Florida appeals court this week underscored state regulators’ authority to investigate insurance service companies, two years after a viatical settlement firm refused to open its books to the state Department of Financial Services.

“We agree with the trial court and hold … that the Department did and does have such authority, statutorily conferred,” reads the 1^st District Court of Appeals opinion handed down Wednesday in Litai Assets vs. Florida DFS.

Litai Assets LLC, in business since at least 2009 and headquartered in Pompano Beach, services settlement contracts when parties sell their life insurance benefits for a cash payout. Viatical licensees are required by Florida law to keep records and make them available to state regulatory authorities, the appellate judges said.

The firm held an insurance agency license beginning in 2014, DFS online records show. The license expired or became invalid in 2022, although the firm continued to advertise that it “currently manages” more than 5,000 life insurance policies, the court explained.

When DFS in 2023 began looking into the firm, including whether it was operating without a license, Litai officials balked. When investigators went to the Litai offices and asked to see its books and records, Litai’s operations officer, Chris Hallman, said the company was not conducting actual insurance business and ordered the investigators to leave the office, according to a DFS brief filed in the appeal.

After DFS issued a subpoena for the records, Litai argued that it was not transacting insurance but was merely servicing viaticated policies, so it had no records to give. Litai also asserted that the Department lacked authority to investigate Litai because the Department did not regulate viatical servicers, and that the DFS had no reason to suspect wrongdoing, its brief to the court reads.

A trial court judge in Tallahassee in 2025 disagreed with the firm’s lawyers and enforced the DFS subpoena. Litai appealed, and the appeals court upheld the trial judge’s decision.

Litai “claims it merely services viatical agreements and has done nothing wrong,” the 1^st District appellate judges wrote in the opinion. “But this is self-serving and conclusory, and does not confront or resolve the real issue of the Department’s statutory authority. A mere denial of impropriety does not thwart the Department’s authority to investigate activity within its jurisdiction.”

The opinion went on to note that Florida statutes clearly give DFS and its Office of Insurance Regulation some regulatory power over viatical brokers, and a life insurance agent can be considered a viatical settlement broker.

“Both the Department and the Office, within their delineated roles, have the authority ‘to regulate viatical settlement providers, viatical settlement brokers, viatical settlement contracts, and viatical settlement transactions,'” per Florida Statute 626.99285, 624.310, and 624.307, the court noted.

That authority has been upheld by court rulings, including a 1997 Florida appeals court opinion in Florida Department of Insurance vs. Bankers Insurance, the 1^st DCA noted. Also, an owner/manager of Litai, Jan-Eric Samuel, still holds a valid life insurance license and is appointed with Primerica Life Insurance Co., DFS online records show.

It’s unclear if Litai, a name that may come from an ancient Greek term for “prayers,” will appeal further, to the Florida Supreme Court. Attorneys and officers with Litai did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. A web page for the company was blank all day.

DFS attorneys and communications staff also could not be reached for comment on the court decision.

Viatical life insurance settlements have been big business for the last few decades. Viaticated life insurance policies are often purchased as investments by investment firms. Litai’s clients include hedge funds, private equity firms. Its revenue for 2026 was $5.6 million, according to RocketReach and Crunchbase financial web sites.

Regulators with the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions have warned investors that investing in viatical settlement can be risky, and some firms have been accused of misrepresenting the risk and the rate of return.