In January 2008, Rothstein applied for a life insurance policy that would have paid out $14.8 million. In the insurance application, Rothstein said that he earned $8 million in income every year as a trial attorney and from running his law firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. In the application, Rothstein also said that his net worth was at least $12 million.

On December 1, Rothstein was charged with running a scheme selling fake legal settlements to investors. The $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme was the only source of income, so MassMutual claims his income and net worth seem to be based on ill-gotten gains.

Rothstein’s MassMutual policies had monthly premiums of about $30,000. About $570,000 was already paid into the policy. MassMutual says it wants to deposit the premiums already paid into the court’s registry to pay the creditors or the government, who may have claims on the lawyer’s money.