Life Partners Sues Charles Schwab Subsidiary for Counterfeiting

Life Partners Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq GS: LPHI) announced today that it has filed suit against optionsXpress, Inc., a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW), the company’s Chief Financial Officer, and one of the company’s largest customers for issuing and selling counterfeit shares of Life Partners Holdings stock.

The lawsuit, filed in Illinois by California attorney Gary Aguirre, whose practice focuses on market manipulation, asks the Court for an order preventing the Schwab subsidiary from creating and selling shares of Life Partners Holdings’ stock which were not authorized by the company. The action also asks the Court for protection from securities fraud, deceptive business practices and civil conspiracy arising from the unlawful issuance of the counterfeit shares.

Under the law of Illinois, Texas, and every other state, a company has the exclusive right to issue and sell its own stock. The creation and sale of counterfeit or “phantom” stock by brokers and their customers violates these laws.

The lawsuit is based on findings in an administrative proceeding by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against optionsXpress and the other defendants which concluded that optionsXpress, its chief financial officer, and one of its biggest customers committed securities fraud by engaging in the sales of hundreds of millions of dollars in counterfeit-phantom stock passed off as the genuine stock of 25 public companies, including almost $5.5 million of counterfeit-phantom stock of Life Partners Holdings, Inc.

Life Partners Holdings CEO Brian Pardo commented, “This case isn’t about money. It’s about confidence in the market. It’s about making sure that, in the future, shareholders can be sure that they are purchasing legitimate, authorized stock. Individual investors need to know that the stock they are buying is real and not phantom stock cooked up by Wall Street insiders. Without a stock certificate, we’ve seen how easy it is for Wall Street to pass off counterfeit stock in your account as legitimate and we want to put a stop to it.”

The company is continuing to investigate other persons and entities who may have engaged in counterfeiting shares of Life Partners Holdings, Inc.

The lawsuit is entitled Life Partners Holdings, Inc. et al. v. optionsXpress, Inc., Jonathan I. Feldman and Thomas E. Stern, Case No. 14CH6428, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, County Department, Chancery Division. A complete copy of the complaint is available at: http://www.lphi.com/doc/Release_20140415.pdf

The SEC decision, In the Matter of optionsXpress, Inc., et al. is available on the SEC website at http://www.sec.gov/alj/aljdec/2013/id490bpm.pdf.

Life Partners is the world’s oldest and one of the most active companies in the United States engaged in the secondary market for life insurance, commonly called “life settlements”. Since its incorporation in 1991, Life Partners has completed over 156,000 transactions for its worldwide client base of over 30,000 high net worth individuals and institutions in connection with the purchase of over 6,500 policies totaling approximately $3.2 billion in face value.

Visit our website at: www.lphi.com.

Safe Harbor - This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The statements in this news release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding the basis, outcome or duration of the legal proceeding, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. For information concerning these risks and uncertainties, see our most recent Form 10-K. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

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