Judge Solis: OSU, Pickens Weren’t Tricked into Buying Life Insurance

By MARK CURRIDEN

The Texas Lawbook

A federal judge in Dallas has ruled that neither Oklahoma State University athletic officials nor its fund-raisers were tricked or defrauded into buying huge life insurance policies on elderly alumni in hopes of generating revenue when they died.

OSU’s athletic fund-raising arm, Cowboy Athletics, made national headlines five years ago when it announced that oilman T. Boone Pickens and 26 other alumni had agreed to allow the university to purchase $10 million life insurance policies, which reportedly would have raised as much as $350 million in benefits.