Is a "Tontine" a viable retirement investment?

ODE Magazine summarizes an article in the September 2004 issue of Prospect Magazine on the renewed interest in "tontines" as a retirement vehicle. Excerpting the ODE Magazine article:

A tontine [...] is a kind of annuity insurance where a group of people raise capital and then benefit from the interest. If one person dies, his or her share is divided among the remaining members. An example. Let's say 100 65-year-old men and women form a tontine. Everyone makes a one-time contribution of 5,000 dollars and the total sum is invested at three percent interest. Each member benefits from the annual interest earned. When someone in the group dies, there are fewer people sharing the accrued interest. When 25 percent of the original group remains -- let's say 20 years later -- the situation changes. The remaining capital is distributed in fixed amounts for another 10 years among an increasingly small group. In the past, tontines were occasionally associated with fraud and murder. But those problems can be easily avoided now by reliable financial oversight and anonymity for members.

In researching tontines, I found some basic background in the Wikipedia entry for tontines. I also ran across this article on the history of annuities. It doesn't provide much new information but does have some useful background. I also found more information on Aegon's Web Site (out of the Netherlands), including:

Tontine plans are linked pure endowment savings contracts, with a tontine bonus structure. Policyholders can choose from several funds in which to invest premiums paid. When death occurs before maturity, the tontine plans pay a death benefit equal to the premiums accumulated at 4% compound interest, subject to a minimum of 110% of the fund value during the first half of the contract term. This death benefit is charged on a yearly risk premium basis. The amount of death benefit that is charged for is equal to the total benefit paid to the policyholder, plus any un-recouped acquisition costs. When death occurs, the balance in the investment account is not paid out to the policyholder's estate, but is distributed out at the end of the year to the surviving policyholders of the specific series (a new series starts at the beginning of each calendar year) to which the deceased policyholder belonged. On survival to the maturity date, a benefit equal to the fund value, inclusive of tontine bonuses, is paid out. This is subject to a minimum of the premiums paid, provided the Mix Fund was chosen for investing premiums.

I'm curious if anyone knows of companies in the US that offer tontines?