Terry McAuliffe, Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial candidate, invested with an estate planner charged of defrauding insurers by using stolen identities of the terminally ill, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Joseph A. Caramadre, the Rhode Island estate planner, used the identities of the terminally ill to set up annuities that ultimately cost insurance companies millions of dollars, according to the Washington Post.
Caramadre contributed $26,599 to McAuliffe's Virginia gubernatorial campaign in 2009. McAuliffe is not accused of any wrongdoing in the court documents.
The Post reports:
Federal court documents do not accuse McAuliffe of wrongdoing, and it wasn’t clear whether he had made money or lost money on the investments. His campaign spokesman said McAuliffe was a "passive investor" who was deceived like many others. Spokesman Josh Schwerin also said that the campaign and McAuliffe donated sums to the American Cancer Society totaling $74,000 — approximately the amount McAuliffe earned as a return on the investment and received in a campaign donation from Caramadre.
"Terry was one of hundreds of passive investors several years ago and had no idea about the allegations against the defendant — who, at the time, was widely respected by business leaders and elected officials," Schwerin said. "The allegations are horrible and he never would have invested if he knew he was being deceived."