Brent Cassity
| Brent Douglas Cassity | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born: | 1970 St. Louis, Missouri |
| Charges: | Mail fraud, Wire fraud, Money laundering, Permitting a felon to engage in insurance business |
| Sentence: | 5 years |
| Facility: | USP Leavenworth |
| Status: | Released |
Brent Douglas Cassity (born circa 1970) is an American former business executive and convicted fraudster who served five years in federal prison for his role in the National Prearranged Services (NPS) scandal that defrauded over 97,000 victims of approximately $435 million.[1] Cassity, who served as an officer of NPS alongside his father James "Doug" Cassity, pleaded guilty in 2013 to mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and willfully permitting a felon to engage in the insurance business. The scheme, which operated from 1992 to 2008, sold prearranged funeral contracts to customers across multiple states while systematically misappropriating funds that were supposed to be held in trust or insurance policies.[2] Following his release, Cassity authored a memoir and launched the Nightmare Success podcast.
Summary
The National Prearranged Services fraud was one of the largest consumer protection failures in the American funeral industry. For nearly two decades, the Cassity family and their associates sold prearranged funeral contracts to families seeking to plan and pay for funerals in advance, representing that funds would be held in trust or insurance policies as required by state law. Instead, the NPS enterprise operated as a Ponzi-like scheme, using incoming customer payments to fund unauthorized purposes, including personal enrichment of company officers, rather than safeguarding the money for its intended purpose.[1]
The fraud affected over 97,000 victims—including individual customers who had paid in advance for their funerals, funeral homes that had contracted with NPS, insurance companies, and financial institutions. When NPS collapsed in 2008, thousands of families discovered that the funeral arrangements they had paid for years earlier could not be honored. Many were required to pay again for funerals they had already purchased.[3]
Brent Cassity's role in the scheme was subordinate to that of his father Doug Cassity, who masterminded the operation. As an officer of NPS and its affiliated insurance companies, Brent Cassity participated in the fraud and benefited from the misappropriated funds. His five-year sentence reflected his level of involvement, shorter than his father's nine-year-and-seven-month term.[4]
Background
Family Business Origins
The Cassity family's involvement in the funeral industry began when James "Doug" Cassity purchased National Prearranged Services Inc. in 1979. Based in Clayton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, NPS initially appeared to be a legitimate business offering prearranged funeral contracts—agreements that allowed customers to plan and pay for funeral services in advance, locking in prices and sparing their families the burden of making arrangements during a time of grief.[5]
Brent Cassity grew up in the family business and eventually became an officer of NPS and its affiliated companies, including Lincoln Memorial Life Insurance Company. The family's business model expanded over the years, with NPS selling prearranged funeral contracts in Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and other states, while affiliated insurance companies issued life insurance policies tied to those contracts.[2]
The Business Model
Under state laws governing prearranged funeral contracts, companies like NPS were required to hold customer funds in trust or purchase insurance policies to guarantee that the money would be available to pay for funerals when customers died. These consumer protection requirements existed precisely because of the unique vulnerability of prearranged funeral customers—typically elderly individuals who might not live to see whether their contracts were honored.[1]
NPS represented to customers, funeral homes, and state regulators that it was complying with these requirements. In reality, the company was systematically violating them, diverting customer funds for unauthorized purposes while maintaining the appearance of legitimacy through fraudulent financial statements and regulatory filings.[2]
Indictment, Prosecution, and Sentencing
The Fraud Scheme
Federal prosecutors established that beginning as early as 1992 and continuing until NPS's collapse in 2008, the company operated as a fraudulent Ponzi-like scheme. Customer funds that were supposed to be held securely in trust or insurance policies were instead used for unauthorized purposes, including:
- Personal enrichment of NPS officers and the Cassity family
- Funding operating expenses and commissions that should have been paid from legitimate business revenue
- Making payments to earlier customers whose policies came due—the classic hallmark of a Ponzi scheme
- Investments and expenditures unrelated to the company's funeral business obligations[1]
The scheme required constant deception of multiple parties. Individual customers were told their funds were secure. Funeral homes that partnered with NPS believed the company would honor its contracts. State insurance regulators received fraudulent financial statements suggesting the company was solvent. And insurance companies affiliated with NPS, including Lincoln Memorial Life Insurance Company, were used as vehicles to facilitate the fraud rather than provide genuine protection for customer funds.[2]
Collapse and Investigation
The fraud unraveled in 2008 when NPS could no longer sustain its Ponzi-like operations. As with all such schemes, the company eventually ran out of new money to pay old obligations. The collapse triggered investigations by state insurance regulators and ultimately by federal authorities.[6]
The investigation revealed the full scope of the fraud: more than 97,000 victims, approximately $435 million in losses, and a scheme that had operated for nearly two decades while evading regulatory detection.[3]
Guilty Pleas
In 2013, Brent Cassity pleaded guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and willfully permitting a felon to engage in the insurance business. The last charge related to the involvement of individuals with prior felony convictions in NPS's insurance operations. His father, James "Doug" Cassity, then 67, pleaded guilty to similar charges.[5]
The guilty pleas came as part of a broader prosecution that ultimately resulted in six defendants being sentenced to a combined total of 36 years in federal prison. Besides Brent and Doug Cassity, other defendants included NPS executives and associates who had participated in various aspects of the scheme.[1]
Sentencing
On November 14, 2013, Brent Cassity was sentenced in federal court in St. Louis to 60 months (five years) in federal prison. He was also ordered to pay restitution as part of the overall $435 million restitution judgment against the NPS defendants.[1]
His father, Doug Cassity, received a significantly longer sentence of nine years and seven months, reflecting his role as the mastermind of the scheme.[4]
Prison Experience
Brent Cassity served his sentence at United States Penitentiary Leavenworth, a medium-security federal prison in Kansas. The facility, one of the oldest federal prisons in the country, houses approximately 1,500 male inmates. He completed his sentence and was released after serving the full term of his imprisonment.
Post-Release Activities
"Nightmare Success" Memoir
Following his release, Brent Cassity authored a memoir titled "Nightmare Success" in which he presented his account of the NPS scandal and his experience in the federal prison system.
Nightmare Success Podcast
Cassity hosts the Nightmare Success podcast, which has become one of the largest and longest-running prison-focused podcasts. The show has featured more than 200 guests who share their experiences of overcoming personal and professional setbacks, including former inmates, entrepreneurs, and others who have rebuilt their lives after adversity.[7]
Impact on the Funeral Industry
The NPS scandal prompted increased scrutiny of the prearranged funeral industry and the regulatory frameworks designed to protect consumers. The case highlighted vulnerabilities in state-level oversight of funeral trusts and preneed insurance products, as NPS had managed to evade detection for nearly two decades despite operating in multiple states with different regulatory regimes.[8]
Consumer advocates used the NPS case to push for stronger protections for preneed funeral purchasers, including more rigorous auditing requirements for funeral trusts and better coordination among state regulators to detect multi-state schemes. The case also served as a cautionary tale for consumers considering prearranged funeral purchases, highlighting the importance of researching companies' financial stability and regulatory compliance before entrusting them with funds.[9]
Terminology
- Prearranged Funeral Contract: An agreement to plan and pay for funeral services in advance of death, typically offered by funeral homes or specialized companies.
- Preneed Insurance: A life insurance policy purchased specifically to fund future funeral expenses, with the funeral provider named as beneficiary.
- Funeral Trust: A trust account established to hold funds paid in advance for funeral services, with the money held securely until the funeral is performed.
- Ponzi Scheme: A fraudulent investment operation where returns to earlier investors are paid using capital from newer investors rather than from legitimate profits.
See also
- Nightmare Success
- White Collar Crime
- Prison Consultants
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What was Brent Cassity convicted of?
Brent Cassity was convicted of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and permitting a felon to engage in insurance business for his role in the National Prearranged Services fraud that defrauded over 97,000 victims of $435 million.
Q: How long was Brent Cassity's sentence?
Cassity was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison on November 14, 2013. His father Doug Cassity received nine years and seven months.
Q: What was the Cassity family fraud scheme?
The Cassity family operated National Prearranged Services, which sold pre-need funeral contracts from 1992 to 2008 while misappropriating customer funds meant to be held in trust.
Q: Where did Brent Cassity serve his sentence?
Cassity served his federal sentence at USP Leavenworth in Kansas. He has since been released.
Q: How much money was involved in the Cassity fraud?
The National Prearranged Services fraud involved approximately $435 million in misappropriated funds and affected over 97,000 victims.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 U.S. Department of Justice, "Six Defendants Sentenced To Total Of 36 Years In Prison In National Prearranged Services Case," November 14, 2013, https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmo/pr/six-defendants-sentenced-total-36-years-prison-national-prearranged-services-case.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 FBI Archives, "Former Employee of National Prearranged Services Inc. and Lincoln Memorial Life Insurance Company Brent Cassity Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Money Laundering Charges," 2013, https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/stlouis/press-releases/2013/former-employee-of-national-prearranged-services-inc.-and-lincoln-memorial-life-insurance-company-brent-cassity-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-and-money-laundering-charges.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 FOX 2 St. Louis, "Prearranged funeral scammers sentenced to a total of 36 years," November 2013, https://fox2now.com/news/fox-files/prearranged-funeral-scammers-sentenced-to-a-total-of-36-years/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Funeral scam figures get prison sentences in St. Louis federal court," November 2013, https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/funeral-scam-figures-get-prison-sentences-in-st-louis-federal/article_68f2e563-bd91-55a4-a2e7-d202ac157df8.html.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Father, son plead guilty in St. Louis prepaid funeral scam case," 2013, https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/father-son-plead-guilty-in-st-louis-prepaid-funeral-scam-case/article_64cc95bc-a953-5881-a5b5-fe55c3741b65.html.
- ↑ St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Civil trial starts in suit over $500 million fraud by prepaid funeral company in Clayton," https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/civil-trial-starts-in-suit-over-500-million-fraud-by-prepaid-funeral-company-in-clayton/article_ab87bd8d-345c-5e40-aeb8-ad22aa8ec2e4.html.
- ↑ Nightmare Success Podcast, https://nightmaresuccess.com/.
- ↑ Connecting Directors, "National Prearranged Services Crooks Finally Get Prison Sentence," 2013, https://connectingdirectors.com/42973-national-prearranged-services-crooks-finally-get-prison-sentence.
- ↑ CNBC, "Greed Report: Preying on the Dead: Protect Yourself from These Most Evil Scams," July 25, 2016, https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/25/the-greed-report-preying-on-the-dead-protect-yourself-from-these-most-evil-scams.html.