Pure greed from the very start got the best of them.
In this case it seems appropriate that nobody died and took one for the OSU team.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/03/12/business/AP-US-Oklahoma-St-Insurance-Lawsuit.html

March 12, 2012
Okla St Loses Bid to Regain $33M From Fundraiser

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — A federal judge has denied Oklahoma State's bid to get back $33 million it spent on premiums as part of a fundraising scheme built around buying $10 million life insurance policies on about two dozen donors to the athletic program.

The so-called "Gift of a Lifetime" program was launched in 2007, and Oklahoma State claimed in court filings that it was told it could make as much as $350 million through the program. Instead, OSU nixed the program about three years ago and then sued to try and regain premiums it had already paid.

Judge Jorge A. Solis ruled against Oklahoma State and top booster T. Boone Pickens on Friday in a summary judgment and will allow Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. to keep the premiums it received.

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Pure greed from the very start got the best of them.
In this case it seems appropriate that nobody died and took one for the OSU team.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/03/12/business/AP-US-Oklahoma-St-Insurance-Lawsuit.html

March 12, 2012
Okla St Loses Bid to Regain $33M From Fundraiser

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — A federal judge has denied Oklahoma State's bid to get back $33 million it spent on premiums as part of a fundraising scheme built around buying $10 million life insurance policies on about two dozen donors to the athletic program.

The so-called "Gift of a Lifetime" program was launched in 2007, and Oklahoma State claimed in court filings that it was told it could make as much as $350 million through the program. Instead, OSU nixed the program about three years ago and then sued to try and regain premiums it had already paid.

Judge Jorge A. Solis ruled against Oklahoma State and top booster T. Boone Pickens on Friday in a summary judgment and will allow Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. to keep the premiums it received.

That does not sound good for the prognosis for OSU business school grads.

Would "bodes ill" or "darkens the dawning clouds" or "really sucks bigtime" be a suitable substitute for "not sounding good for"? Oh. Wait. You said "business school" not "english majors". =)

This is a trendy thing a lot of universities were getting into a few years ago. Get employees or donors to take out a life insurance policy with the university as the beneficiary. OSU is not the only university to do this. It is more common than people may think.

Bigray in Ok

Please name another university that has done this.

When Pickens and OSU concocted this scheme they promoted it as being "innovative" and I'm not aware of any other schools doing this before or since -- and for lots of good reasons.

Not only did OSU lose $33 million, they had borrowed the premium money from a booster organization. In addition to the wasted premiums, they now also have to pay the legal costs incurred by the insurance company as a result of the two-year court battle which had no merit to start with -- not to mention their own legal costs.


So, in addition to this all walking a very thin ethical line (which is being kind) OSU has thrown away tens of millions of dollars.

This was a terrible waste of money by OSU and an embarrassment, but will the states media even bother to cover this embarrassing set back? I haven’t seen anything yet.

The state of Oklahoma should not ever be put in a position of liability over any aspect of this. The OSU mission is to make the state of Oklahoma a better place to live and work. This was a scheme of desperation that did not meet stated priorities.

After predictions of this being copied comming from people with OSU interest nobody else was stupid or desperate enough to try and copy this OSU model of your death, is for the greater good of the team.

[QUOTE=ou48A;518584]This was a terrible waste of money by OSU and an embarrassment, but will the states media even bother to cover this embarrassing set back? I haven’t seen anything yet./QUOTE]

http://newsok.com/article/3657161

Please name another university that has done this.

When Pickens and OSU concocted this scheme they promoted it as being "innovative" and I'm not aware of any other schools doing this before or since -- and for lots of good reasons.

Not only did OSU lose $33 million, they had borrowed the premium money from a booster organization. In addition to the wasted premiums, they now also have to pay the legal costs incurred by the insurance company as a result of the two-year court battle which had no merit to start with -- not to mention their own legal costs.


So, in addition to this all walking a very thin ethical line (which is being kind) OSU has thrown away tens of millions of dollars. This is quite embarrasing from a PR standpoint. It seems the longer I am away from Oklahoma, the more corrupt the state gets with it's opportunistic snake in the grass schemes.

This is quite embarrasing from a PR standpoint. It seems the longer I am away from Oklahoma, the more corrupt the state gets with it's opportunistic snake in the grass schemes.

It wasn't corrupt, just dumb.

And, it was the brainchild of Boone Pickens who is a Texan anyway.

I don't think these schemes passed scrutiny with the IRS.

And, it was the brainchild of Boone Pickens who is a Texan anyway. Yes he does live in Texas, however he was born in Oklahoma. Maybe that explains his scheming. LOL Just kidding!

This is a trendy thing a lot of universities were getting into a few years ago. Get employees or donors to take out a life insurance policy with the university as the beneficiary. OSU is not the only university to do this. It is more common than people may think.

Bigray in Ok

the difference is that in those cases the person paid the premium ..and in this case OSU was paying the premium ... it was a terrible idea and it is no surprise that it failed

[QUOTE=ou48A;518584]This was a terrible waste of money by OSU and an embarrassment, but will the states media even bother to cover this embarrassing set back? I haven’t seen anything yet./QUOTE]

http://newsok.com/article/3657161

Thanks

This has now made ESPN. If there was ever any doubt that Boone Pickens ran OSU there is no doubt now after reading what was in the article.
it says……….

The insurance company’s…… “Attorneys produced a paper trail from Holder's emails with him writing once that if it wasn't done soon as Pickens wanted, "I will be in a cave with Bin Laden."



http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7678962/oklahoma-state-cowboys-lose-bid-regain-33m-fundraiser

OSU would probably be okay with that, as long as he can still mail the checks from said cave with Bin Laden...that means they can let the jet landing strip at the Boone Pickens-only International Airport in Stillwater go back to crap.

It wasn't corrupt, just dumb.

Here's my column on the Geezer Gifts:

OSU_Geezer Insurance Problems (http://sillimanonsports.com/OSU_Insurance.html)

By Dan Feldman / Special Contributor
danfeld11@gmail.com | Bio
12:08 PM on Wed., Mar. 21, 2012 | Permalink

Chris Smith of Forbes:

The "Gift of a Lifetime" fundraiser, reportedly suggested by OSU alum and Forbes 400 member T. Boone Pickens, was certainly an intriguing one. The athletics department took out $10 million life insurance policies on 27 boosters, between the ages of 65 and 85. The school had projected related revenues could be as high as $350 million, but apparently the boosters were taking their vitamins. Not a single insured booster died after two years, leading the athletics department to cancel the plan in 2009. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, they had shelled out $33 million in that time.
_________________

So, they cancelled the program because nobody died?

KWTV CH 9 OKC finally did cover this. Good for them.

http://www.news9.com/story/17216081/oklahoma-state-university-lost-33m

Obviously more money needs to be spent on improving OSU's Speculation, Gambling Management, and Confidence Building programs.
Maybe with some funds going toward building better Hedges.

And, it was the brainchild of Boone Pickens who is a Texan anyway.

Then Pickens should make it up to OSU by giving it 33 million. Maybe he's been making big bucks from the rising price of oil. Since he's also into education, he might as will help Stillwater with its $62 million debt to rebuild two elementary schools. He took a lot of property off the tax rolls for the future Athletic Village that helped pay for local schools.