This is an undated photo of motivational speaker Jeffrey Locker. (AP Photo/jefflocker.com)
A Long Island motivational speaker who was found dead a year ago is being accused of arranging his own death so his family could profit from a life insurance policy.
Jeffrey Locker was found bound and stabbed to death in July 2009 in East Harlem. His life insurance provider, Principal Life Insurance, filed a lawsuit Friday in Brooklyn, claiming he lied about his income when he took out the policy. As a result, the insurance company is refusing to pay his family the $4 million claim.
A man police believe to be a suspect in the murder says he was paid by Locker to stage the murder and allow his family to benefit from the policy, which was taken out only a month before his death.
In April of last year, Locker was sued by a Florida federal bankruptcy court trustee who alleged he played a part in a Ponzi scheme headed by former music mogul Lou Pearlman.
