East End Point Homicide Victim Edward Netherland, Age 60, Was EDC Resident with Legal Woes

The Tennessee insurance company owner found dead in his isolated rental home on East End Point on St. John was the subject of legal action surrounding as much as $80 million in losses on multi-million dollar insurance investment schemes, according to his hometown newspaper the Murfreesboro Post in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The Nashville-area business executive and U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Commission (EDC) beneficiary worked on the telephone from the deck of the small house cantilevered off the side of East End Point overlooking Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

Netherland is listed as an insurance agent with Lifecorp Holdings in Murfreesboro and also is named as owner of Lilac Capital on West End Avenue in Nashville on InsuranceBroker-Agent.com, and as treasurer of Sea Mist Usvi Inc., which filed as a foreign for-profit corporation in Florida in January 2013, according to corporationwiki.com as reported by the Murfreesboro Post.

In July 2012, Netherland was sued in Illinois along with Rutherford County financier Ira Brody, Matthew Ross and Fifth Third Bank by Nina Investments, which claimed it got taken for more than $80 million it invested with the brokers in 2005 and 2006, according to a Chicago Sun Times report.

A lawsuit filed by Nina said it was to get large returns on its investment through insurance-backed securities and a premium finance product known as “Ultra,” the article reports.
The lawsuit states that the investment company’s money went instead toward debt piled up by Netherland, Brody and Ross while they lived “lavish lifestyles,” according to the Chicago Sun Times article.

Nina initially invested $6.5 million and then added $75 million to buy “Ultra” from Netherland’s and Brody’s investment firm Concord with the promise it could make anywhere from $30 million to $90 million in fees and commissions in just three years, the article reports.

The plaintiff said Fifth Third Bank played a role in the fraud by extending credit to Netherland, Brody and Ross, one of the bank’s executives, even though they were deep in debt, the article reports. The suit also claimed that Fifth Third knew Ultra couldn’t bring the returns that Concord guaranteed, according to the Chicago Sun Times article.

In 2009, Brody, formerly of New York, made a bid with Republicans for the Tennessee state treasurer’s seat, according to the Murfreesboro Post. That office oversees Tennessee’s government investments and retirement funds, in addition to the state workers compensation pool.

At one point, Brody was listed as chief operation officer in Nashville-based investment bank InsCap Management, a firm in which Netherland was also involved.

In April, Netherland tried to persuade Pasco County school district in Florida to buy a life insurance plan for its employees, according to a Tampa Bay Times article.

Under the plan, four families from New York were to invest $100 million each into premiums for life insurance policies covering the school district’s 9,769 employees, the article reported.
The school district was to set up a trust insuring workers and paying their families $50,000 after their death, in addition to $50,000 each for the district. The district and the employees were to pay nothing, according to the article.
The article reported that Netherland, working as a consultant for Swiss Re and Pollock Financial, tried to explain to school board members how the policy would function during a workshop.
“It sounds a little bit too good to be true, so let’s figure out how it works out,” Netherland is quoted as saying. Netherland told the board he set up a similar life insurance program with investors such as Warren Buffett.
The school board, however, was skeptical, according to the article.