Archive for the ‘Ilinois funeral directors association’ Category

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Roland Burris and Illinois Funeral Directors Association need to give Answers Now in Ponzi Scheme.

Roland Burris and Illinois Funeral Directors Association need to give Answers Now in Ponzi Scheme.

The President of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association has resigned. Chris Woodridge resigned the Illinois Funeral Directors Association for Personal Reasons. Merrill Lynch a while back bowed out as trustee. So Now What? The IFDA Preneed trust lost 40 million of the folks preneed money in Illinois before The Market crashed in September 2008. Today the amount has grown to over 100 million.

This has impacted the funeral industry-and  Funerals in Illinois and raised the average cost of the Funeral in Illinois.

Snippet from the Memorial Business Journal

The Illinois Funeral Directors Association has been hit by key defections in its leadership and administration. First, Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust Co. sent a letter informing the association of  its intention to step aside as interim trustee for the association’s beleaguered preneed trust fund. Then, Chris Wooldridge resigned as association president.

Despite the timing between the two resignations, Duane Marsh, Illinois IFDA executive director, said there is no connection between the trust situation and Wooldridge’s resignation. “Chris made a personal decision and it is our job to go on and that is what we will do. We’re going to honor it,” Marsh said.

Funeral Industry|Funeral blog by Your Funeral Guy



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Friday, December 11th, 2009
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The consensus seems to be that there should be one agency regulating Funerals and Cemeteries in Illinois. This is a good thing. The not so good thing is that it may be a while before the regulation is put into place. The Governor in the State  wants  the Illinois House Task Force on the Illinois Funeral Directors Association(IFDA)Ponzi Scheme to  have hearings and report first.

For Cemetery and Funeral Regulation to Occur in Illinois-Put it all in one agency

For Cemetery and Funeral Regulation to Occur in Illinois-Put it all in one agency

From the State Journal Register in Springfield, IL:

“IT SEEMS to be almost unanimous: The Illinois comptroller should not be in charge of regulating the state’s cemeteries. Instead, regulatory authority should be placed solely in the hands of the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.”

But Illinois  Governor Patrick Quinn does not want Funeral or Cemetery reform until after January 2010.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

More information here: Funeral Cemetery Fraud should go right to the Prosecutor-Your Funeral Guy


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Saturday, September 19th, 2009
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A Senator Roland Burris Investigator died in a car crash. Burris Pictured

A Senator Roland Burris Investigator died in a car crash. Burris Pictured

A State of Illinois Investigator investigating the perjuries of Roland Burris has died in a car crash. There has been no comment from the Senator Roland Burris.. Burris is under state  investigation in “pay for play” lying, perjury  in his appointment by the now  impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Senator Roland Burris is  also under investigation by the US Senate Ethics  Commitee and others  for lying, on Blago, and his lobbying  for and licensing of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association.

It is clear by his own admission that he was hired as a lobbyist for the organization he licensed to manage the IFDA Preneed trust.

The  State Funeral Directors  Association  lost, stole, misappropriated nearly 100 million dollars of the good folks funeral money in the State of Illinois.

When funeral preneed funds are misappropiated funeral costs are raised and consumers suffer.

Very little information has come out on this. From the Chicago Sun Times:

Snippet:

“John Ruff, a key figure in the perjury investigation of U.S. Sen. Roland Burris was killed in an automobile accident Monday in Kendall County. He was 42-years-old”

A State of Illinois investigator of Roland Burris perjuries dead in an auto accident, no witnessed.

A State of Illinois investigator of Roland Burris perjuries dead in an auto accident, no witnessed.

It is unclear how the Car crash death of the investigator will set the Burris investigations back.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Burris Picture from Flickr under the Creative Commons licence from

chicagopublicradio ’s photostream


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Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
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Funeral Scandals need to be reported in order to save you money

Funeral Scandals need to be reported in order to save you money

Funeral scandals need to be reported because it helps the consumer come in under the average cost of a funeral.It also makes the consumer aware  of ways they can keep funeral directors honest. Researching funeral scandal is quite a boring task . The bottom line is funeral scandals are good for you if are not a victim.

Service Corporation has had  an extraordinary amount of  scandals this year. There are excellent SCI Funeral Directors out there. Some are my friends. Reports in the press and other places indicate a corporate cultural problem at SCI. It may be in the core culture of SCI Management.

The problem  some believe goes to the outdated  business model as reflected in recent numbers. The problems need to continue to be reported and brought to public and funeral directors attention.

It will be a great day when the company corrects the problem or funeral directors through self or State Regulators make the corrections needed.

The Illinois funeral Directors Association Preneed Ponzi scheme (IFDA) and the National Prearranged Services fraud have been blogged about because reporting on preneed scandals makes folks aware of the perils of preneed.  It helps people lower their

Dont throw your Money down the grave-Avoid funeral scandal.

Dont throw your Money down the grave-Avoid funeral scandal.

funeral costs and come in under the average cost of a funeral.

For these  reasons, it is best to make folks aware of reports in the press.

SCI 5 Scandals reported in the press this year

Funeral Industry| Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.


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Saturday, May 30th, 2009
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Illinois Regulators have taken over part of Funeral Fund and have appointed themselves Administrators.

Illinois Regulators have taken over part of Funeral Fund and have appointed themselves Administrators.

The State of Illinois has Taken Over A Funeral Preneed Fund. This has to do with the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Ponzi Scheme involving a loss  of  a $59 Million dollars in 300 Million dollar funeral fund. This all happened on Wednesday May 20th 2009.

The Division of Insurance settled with one branch of the Merrill Lynch (MLLA) Merill Lynch Life Agency and will receive 18 million Dollars. -Here is the Link to the Illinois Deparment of Financial Regulation- Division of Insurance- Stipulation and Consent Order

Merrill Lynch Bank and Trust (MLBT) is the trustee for the IFDA Preneed Trust. Evidently the regulators trusted Merrill Lynch to take the money and settle. There appears not to be enough trust for Merrill Lynch to be  given the $18 million as a  trustee. The regulators in Illinois will disperse the money to funeral directors and their clients.

The State of Illinois has taken over part of the IFDA Funeral preneed fund. This was done by an order by the Division of  Insurance in Illinois. This is clearly over reaching because it had noting to do with any kind of bailout or tax payer fund.

The State of Illinois will control Funeral Directors preneed funds… How can this be? Should the government control your funeral money?

Funeral Industry|Funeral  Blog by Your Funeral Guy


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Friday, May 22nd, 2009
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