Ed Young sentenced to four years in prison

By Greg Wright

MBA, CFE, CFP®, CLU, ChFC

Certified Fraud Examiner

Certified Financial Planner™

Ed Young Mug Shot

On August 5, 2015, for committing forgery, insurance fraud, and theft, Mr. Edward Young was sentenced to four years in prison.  Ed Young and his wife, Judith, have a long history of soliciting insurance products through unlicensed or unregistered entities to Indiana citizens.  Similarly, the Young family was previously charged in Ohio of offering insurance products without having an Ohio insurance license.

After researching multiple investment fraudsters, I have concluded that, prior to being arrested, almost all of them had a public record of not being trustworthy, having customer complaints filed with regulators, and having their license suspended or revoked.   If consumers had known the financial advisor’s record, he or she would never have done business with him.  Their retirement nest-egg would still be intact.

In 2011, the Ohio Department of insurance issued a “cease and desist” order to Edward Young, Judith Young and Fortune Financial Group for soliciting insurance products to the Believers Christian Fellowship Church (Pentecostal) in Lima, Ohio.  According to Ohio Dept. of Insurance documents, meetings were held at the church, and the Young’s were accompanied by Indiana insurance agents Messrs. James Beattey and Mark W. Miller, who also represented Fortune Financial Group. 

Judith Young Mug Shot

The Ohio matter was similar to a 2007 Indiana dept. of insurance when Ed Young, Judith Young and their son Greg Young were the subjects of an Indiana cease and desist order.  At that time, the Indiana Department of Insurance had received complaints regarding the Freedom 7 Program, MBA, Inc., and an irrevocable life insurance trust described as the “Final Tithe.”   Church members were the target.       

For over ten years, Ed Young and Judith Young been the subject of numerous actions by the Indiana Department of insurance and Indiana Securities Division.  Earlier this year,  according to regulators,  between the time he was charged and sentenced, Mr. Ed young attempted to set up a life insurance Company in Wyoming.  We may not have heard the last about Mr. Young.