Globe Life Shares Plunged

Shares of insurance giant Globe Life Inc. plunged 53% today and trading was halted eight times after a short-seller issued a damning narrative on the company. Fuzzy Panda Research described "extensive allegations of insurance fraud" at Globe's wholly-owned subsidiary American Income Life.

Last year, Agents at a leading AIL sales agency, the Pittsburgh-based Arias Organization, had forged signatures and opened accounts in the names of dead people. Short seller report says "dozens of former executives and agents told us that the problems of fraudulent insurance production for Globe Life is an AIL problem, not limited to Arias" and claims Fuzzy Panda uncovered allegations of fraud at many of AIL's largest agencies.

Fuzzy Panda sent people undercover to apply for jobs at AIL agencies. They reported back that one recruiter had a criminal record, another suggested the applicant use a fake address to avoid seeking a license in a state where standards were high, and a third appeared to offer cocaine if the recruit had great sales in his first week.

It characterizes AIL as a "pyramid scheme" where agencies were incentivized to write more and more bad policies each year to fuel growth. "If you thought it could not get any worse," Fuzzy Panda writes, "American Income Life has also fostered an environment permissive of sexual assault, rape, racism, and widespread illicit drug activity."