Task force targets unscrupulous annuities sales

By DAVID R. CORDER, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES — Roy Bradburn knows better than most why residents in The Villages need protection from unscrupulous annuity dealers.

The Village of Chatham resident was pleased to learn that the state just formed the Safeguard Our Seniors task force as a means to shine a broader light on insurance agents and securities dealers who prey on retirees.

“There’s a need for this in here,” Bradburn said. “These (annuities dealers) work as a team, and you don’t have a chance against them.”

Annuities fraud is a growing problem, too, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink said in explaining her decision to form the task force.

During the past 12 months, Sink said, the state Department of Financial Services opened about 474 investigations into financial fraud committed against seniors.

Nearly 70 percent of the investigations, Sink added, involved allegations of annuity or insurance fraud.

“Every year, my department investigates hundreds of bad actors who prey upon Florida seniors, luring them into inappropriate investments and draining their hard-earned savings,” Sink said. “I have created the Safeguard Our Seniors task force to identify how our state can better protect seniors from these financial threats, starting with annuity fraud.”

The task force includes representatives from the Financial Services Department; state Office of Financial Regulation; AARP Florida; the Florida Bar elder law section; Hillsborough County state attorney’s office; state Department of Veterans’ Affairs; NAACP Florida; First Coast Financial Advisors; Raymond James & Associates; Securities and Financial Services Industry; and the American Council of Life Insurers.

“It is an outrage that some unscrupulous agents are taking advantage of older Floridians by selling them unsuitable and complex annuities investments,” Lori Parham, AARP Florida’s executive director, said. “AARP is proud to work with CFO Sink and the Safeguard Our Seniors task force to ensure Florida’s seniors are better protected.”

Such public outrage explains in part why the state Legislature earlier this year enacted tougher penalties for insurance agents who engage in annuities fraud.

But state officials like Sink believe stronger sanctions are necessary, especially when considering reports from consumers like Bradburn and his wife, Beverly.

Just prior to their marriage, Bradburn said, two insurance agents persuaded Beverly, suffering from the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, that she should cash out her stock investments and reinvest in long-term annuities.

“I didn’t know a whole lot about annuities at the time,” Bradburn said.

Later, Bradburn discovered that Beverly, now suffering from late-stage Alzheimer’s, had purchased long-term annuities.

When he asked the company to void the transaction, Bradburn said, the agents came back and talked her into buying another annuity.

Earlier this year, Bradburn filed a complaint with the state attorney general’s Seniors vs. Crime project and the Department of Financial Services. He said local state attorneys are now investigating the complaint.

“It was the wrong thing for her,” Bradburn said about the annuities sold to his wife. “She was invested in the stock market. They convinced her to cash out. Then they convinced her to purchase these long-term annuities. My wife already was 75 years old. And it would be 10 years before she could cash it out with a penalty.”

David R. Corder is a reporter with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9066, or at david.corder@thevillages media.com.