WASHINGTON (AP) – An industry that seeks out heirs to the newly deceased is under scrutiny from the Justice Department, which is looking into whether price-fixing and other anti-competitive practices have ripped off unsuspecting relatives.
Two industry executives and a California company have reached plea deals with federal prosecutors in Chicago in the past month as part of an antitrust investigation that is likely to result in additional criminal charges.
“American consumers and businesses are entitled to the benefits of free competition,” Kalina Tulley, assistant chief in the Chicago office of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said in an interview. “When you have competition, you expect that there will be lower prices and better products than when there is no competition.”
The investigation spotlights a small and little-known industry that’s been publicly defensive of its practices while boasting that it’s helped heirs secure millions of dollars in inheritances that they otherwise may never have known they were entitled to.
“There’s a long history of missing-heir search firms looking for windfall profits,” said C. Tim Rodenbush, president of HeirSearch.com, which decries the “excessive fees” charged by others in the business.