Breaking: Indiana State Teachers Association Charged with Securities Fraud
The Indiana Securities Division filed a complaint against the Indiana State Teachers Association, alleging the union engaged in the sale of securities without license or registration, and unlawfully commingled funds from its insurance trust with other accounts, leading to the estimated loss of $23 million.
The state of Indiana asks the Marion Superior Court to freeze “any and all assets under the ownership, direction, custody or control of Defendants Indiana State Teachers Association (‘ISTA’), ISTA Financial Services Corporation, ISTA Insurance Trust, ISTA Welfare Benefits Trust and ISTA Administrative Services Corporation (collectively referred to as the ‘ISTA Entities’) until all assets have been properly accounted.” This is to include “all ISTA real property and personal property.” Further, the state requests the court to appoint a conservator to search for and recover lost funds.
All the ISTA subsidiaries are named in the complaint because they “shared directors, employees, officers, offices, and funds to such an overlapping and interlocking extent that it is difficult or impossible to determine what actions were being taken by and on behalf of which ISTA entity.” The National Education Association is also named as a defendant, since NEA currently holds an administratorship over ISTA.
We’ll have more on this as it develops.
