Editing Paul Helliwell (section)

==Later Life and Death==
Helliwell continued practicing law in Miami, serving as secretary and general counsel for **American Bankers Life Assurance Company of Florida** (1952–1976) and chairman of banks like **Bank of Perrine** (1962) and **Bank of Cutler Ridge** (1964). A heavy drinker with a flair for secrecy, he was decorated with the **Legion of Merit** (with oak leaf cluster), **Army Commendation Medal**, China’s **Order of the Cloud and Banner**, and Thailand’s **Order of the White Elephant**. In his later years, he suffered from emphysema and died of a collapsed lung at his Coral Gables, Florida, home on December 24, 1976, aged 61. He was survived by his wife, Marjorie, and daughter, Anne.

His death coincided with the collapse of [[Castle Bank & Trust]] (Bahamas and Cayman Islands) and two affiliated Mercantile Banks (Freeport and Cayman Islands), subsidiaries of George Olmsted’s **International Bank**, per *The Washington Star* (1977). The banks’ failure, linked to Helliwell’s tax-avoidance schemes, raised questions about CIA financial networks, though investigations were curtailed.