Oklahoma State University (OSU) officials are debating whether to collect $10 million in life insurance proceeds following the death of a retired dentist insured under a controversial Gift of a Lifetime program.
Stillwater dentist C. Scott Russell, DDS, age 76, was one of 27 OSU alumni whose lives were insured for $10 million each as part of the program, devised by Texas oilman and university benefactor T. Boone Pickens, according to a story on TulsaWorld.
Dr. Russell is the first of the 27 to die, and OSU's athletic nonprofit development arm, Cowboy Athletics, hasn't decided whether to collect the insurance payout, the story said.
Three judges have ruled against the efforts of Cowboy Athletics and Pickens to cancel the policies and recoup $33 million in premiums, according to the article. A federal appellate court has rejected claims by Cowboy Athletics and Pickens that they were taken in by slick insurance salesmen with misleading actuarial data.
Dr. Russell's insurance policy may allow Cowboy Athletics to recoup some of the $33 million in funds spent on premiums, should the board decide to file a claim on it.
More than half of the policies have lapsed during the three years of legal wrangling, leaving a dwindling pool of funds that Cowboy Athletics could hope to collect, the story said.
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