Securities Arbitration Lawyers BlogScott Silver Presents At 2019 PIABA Meeting On Variable Annuity Fraud
Scott Silver, managing partner of Silver Law Group, delivered a presentation on variable annuity fraud at the 28th PIABA annual meeting in Austin, Texas.
What Is A Variable Annuity?
Variable deferred annuities are a hybrid investment that contains features of a security and insurance. According to FINRA, “Due to the complexity and confusion surrounding them, which can lead to questionable sales practices, variable annuities are a leading source of investor complaints to FINRA.”
Variable annuities have higher costs to investors than lower-cost investments, such as mutual funds, but brokers will push variable annuities on their clients because they receive a higher commission for selling them. The recommendation of high-cost variable annuities without proper disclosures may constitute investment fraud.
Recovering Variable Annuity Losses Through Arbitration
Fortunately for investors, the sale of variable deferred annuities is regulated by FINRA and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Disputes regarding variable deferred annuities can be resolved through arbitration, which allows an investor the opportunity to recover losses from the broker-dealer that sold it to them.
Scott Silver’s October, 2019 speech at PIABA dealt with how arbitration cases can be won to recover losses from unsuitable annuity and life insurance recommendations.
Silver Law Group, a nationally recognized law firm representing investors, has helped clients recover losses from variable annuities through arbitration.
SEC Investigates VALIC
Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its investigation into the Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company (Valic), an American International Group, Inc. (AIG) subsidiary that specializes in retirement plans for schools, colleges, and not-for-profit organizations.
The investigation centers around whether Valic representatives were transparent about how much compensation they received when they sold clients higher-cost products. According to news reports, the concern is that Valic’s pay structure encouraged employees to recommend the high-cost products to clients.
Silver Law Group Represents Investors In Claims Against Brokerage Firms To Recover Investment Losses
Silver Law Group represents the interests of investors who have been the victims of investment fraud. Scott Silver is the chairman of the Securities and Financial Fraud Group of the American Association of Justice and represents investors nationwide in securities investment fraud cases. Please contact Scott Silver of the Silver Law Group for a free consultation at ssilver@silverlaw.com or toll free at (800) 975-4345.