Prepaid funeral expenses allegedly paid for yacht excursion

Consumer advocates warn that prepaid funeral services are junk. Paying for a funeral in advance is an especially bad idea when the company taking the money operates as a Ponzi scheme.

The Missouri attorney general’s office issued a belated warning on Monday to mortality-minded customers of National Prearranged Services, a St. Louis-area company that operated funeral homes and a cemetery in Independence. Hounded by regulators, the company was put in receivership by the Texas Department of Insurance in 2008. Last year, federal prosecutors in St. Louis charged company officials with running a $600 million fraud.