Allianz Annuity Lawsuit: Insurance Agent Pays $3.4M

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has faced annuity fraud lawsuits.

Such annuity lawsuits allege that Allianz secretly applies “haircuts” to consumers’ annuity payments and employ unfair penalties for personal gain.

A similar lawsuit in California resulted in an insurance agent being sentenced to time in prison and a hefty restitution fee.

The Palm Desert insurance agent, John S., was sentenced to over nine years in prison for an annuities scam. John allegedly targeted elderly victims, which is common for Allianz annuity lawsuits as well.

John himself is 60 years old, and in addition to the nine years of jail time has been ordered to pay $3.4 million in restitution for the scam. $2.8 million of this money is to go to 13 separate victims involved in the annuity lawsuit.

All of these victims are in their 70s or 80s. The rest of the restitution fee goes toward the California Department of Insurance and the California Franchise Tax Board.

Annuity fraud lawsuits, including Allianz annuity lawsuits, generally involve elderly people who have been victims of annuity fraud.

“It is important that we protect the victims of crime and this case shows how seriously we take the crime of elder abuse, whether that abuse is physical, mental, or financial,” said Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin.

Annuity fraud is unfortunately quite common against elders, and annuity lawsuits help make these things right again.

Annuity Fraud

Annuities can, when dealt with by the right people, offer some degree of financial security, but are too often taken advantage of in order to swindle people out of their life savings.

Seniors are generally targeted because their financial assets tend to be greater than those of younger people, and they can be afraid of outliving their wealth.

Fraudsters use this knowledge to sell inappropriate annuities that keep a consumer’s money away from them for years or decades; sometimes they don’t see the money at all.

In order to avoid annuity fraud, consumers should always seek a third party’s advice before purchasing an annuity to make sure it is the right fit, and that their insurance agent can truly be trusted.

Allianz Annuity Lawsuits

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America especially has been targeted in these kinds of annuity lawsuits. Allianz’s annuities have allegedly cut customers’ funds, as well as enacting strict surrender penalties.

Penalties under this system can allegedly reach or even exceed 50 percent, which is an astronomical number and can have devastating effects on consumers and their finances.

Allianz annuity lawsuits claim that the company failed to adequately disclose these policies to its customers, intentionally cheating purchasers of their funds.

Annuity Fraud Lawsuits

Annuity fraud lawsuits, such as Allianz annuity lawsuits, often surround older people who have been targets of financial scams. These scams take advantage of the elderly in an effort to cheat them out of their life savings, and ultimately do not live up to the benefits initially offered or promised.

Signs that indicate involvement in an annuities scam include:

• If a person is unlikely to live long enough to collect payments, deferred due to company requirements.
• If the annuity makes up more than 35 percent of the person’s assets
• If the Surrender Fee (the amount a person is required to pay if they cash-in early on their annuity payments) is more than 14 percent of the principal
• If the same agent sold the person multiple annuities

Even financially savvy consumers can be affected by financial fraud with useless life insurance or phony annuity products that purposefully and maliciously charge excessive fees or hold purchasers to difficult requirements.

Many injured parties targeted by Allianz and other companies accused of fraudulent financial practices have begun filing annuity lawsuits.

If you or someone you know, such as a loved one, was sold an Allianz annuity that failed to live up to expectations, you may be able to receive some compensation in financial damages. You may be able to file an individual Allianz annuity lawsuit, or you can join an Allianz annuity class action lawsuit.

Get a Free Life Insurance Claims/Annuity Fraud Lawsuit Review

If you or your loved one purchased a bonus annuity, life insurance policy or Medicaid qualified annuity and it did not turn out as promised, you may need to have an investment fraud lawyer review the policy, the payments, and the potential benefits. You may be surprised at what they find, and you may even qualify for financial compensation beyond what the policy promised.

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