Financial Services Protection Law Attorney
Our attorneys provide advice, counseling, and representation to plaintiffs in litigation involving a variety of financial services and products, including fraud and misrepresentation relating to:
- 412i plans
- 419 plans
- Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (“VEBA”)
- Retirement Plans and Pension Plans
- Listed Transactions
- Life Insurance products and annuities
- Rollovers as business Start-Ups (“ROBS”)
- Invalid Collectively Bargained Plans
- Management Company with Defined Benefit
- Multiemployer Plans
Financial services professionals market and sell products on behalf of investment and insurance companies. These products can create risks to consumers because the products sold may not be suitable for that consumer. Many times these problems are brought on by fraudulent and/or negligent conduct of insurance agents, financial advisors, material advisors and other trusted professionals such as accountants.
Those same professionals often miss or misrepresent the complex financial and tax consequences of the products and services offered because they are poorly trained by the insurance companies and general agencies as to the true nature of the products and services. As a result, they either do not know or disclose that there can be significant tax issues such as listed transaction and tax shelter penalties. Moreover, for many financial professionals, a built-in conflict exists because they want to sell the products and services, regardless of suitability for the consumer, to create significant commissions and bonuses.
This fraudulent and negligent conduct is often condoned, ratified and then made worse by the insurance companies and general agencies employing these professionals because they choose to ignore and overlook obvious signs of non-compliance with rules and policies that are mandated by state and federal laws in favor of the sale of products and services and high commissions. As a result, affected consumers are not only exposed to defective retirement and benefit plans that they have been funding for years at high dollar amounts and that do not provide the benefits they were promised, but also face the time and expense to take corrective measures that often involve amending their taxes for unlawful deductions and being assessed penalties and interest imposed by the Internal Revenue Service. Insurance companies will likely offer little, if any, help leaving litigation the only method to secure remedies for the time, aggravation, money spent, and lost retirements that have resulted.