http://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a69227002/kyle-busch-lost-104-million-in-16-months/
By Deb Williams
Autoweek
November 1, 2025
The two-time NASCAR Cup champion alleges a misrepresented life insurance scheme wiped out his investment in barely over a year. - © Icon Sportswire - Getty Images
Kyle Busch says he and his wife Samantha lost $10.4 million in 16 months due to a financial scheme involving an insurance policy that they believed would provide them with an annual income of $800,000 after Busch retired from racing.
The couple has filed a complaint that accuses Pacific Life and its appointed agent of designing and promoting a series of complex Indexed Universal Life policies as “tax-free retirement plans” that were misrepresented as safe, self-funding investment vehicles. The filing by RP Legal alleges the defendants used misleading illustrations, undisclosed costs, and false promises of guaranteed multipliers and controllable charges to get the Busches to invest in the IUL.
“The illustrations, which they’ll come out in court, showed me putting in a million dollars for five years, and then at age 52, I was going to be able to take out like $800,000 a year until the end,” Busch said. “That was a lie. I looked at it and like, sounds too good to be true, but, you know, got to believe in those that are looking at it for you and telling you to believe it.”
The red flag waved for Busch when he received a notice telling him that he needed to pay a six-year premium payment for a policy that was supposed to be paid for in five years. Busch called the person who sold him the policy and received the runaround.
“He couldn’t answer the questions,” Busch said. “So, then I turned it over to an independent firm that reviewed it for me and they’re like, ‘You’re f*****. Your policies are going to lapse here in 16 months.’ Money gone. Like $10.4 million gone in 16 months. Not 16 years. Sixteen months.”
Busch said the couple went public with the loss because their attorney has told them of the average person losing their life savings via the same route.
“There was this electrician out of South Carolina who sold his business for $1.5 million,” Busch said. “That was everything he had. He was going to retire on that. Somebody got to him, sold him an IUL, and it was gone in like two years’ time.
“So, we’re like, you know what, these insurance companies are way too big to be f****** with little people, so we’re gonna go at them. These insurance company people aren’t investing your money in the market. It’s going into their checking account and they’re buying bonds with it. The other point, the agent that sold me this stuff made 35% commission before my money went into Pacific Life.”
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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