Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro filed a class-action lawsuit against The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, or “VALIC,” claiming it duped customers into purchasing annuities products through deceptive sales practices.
The lawsuit claims VALIC designed a scheme to sell deferred annuities that offer tax advantages such as tax deferral of earnings. These advantages, however, are unnecessary for persons funding retirement plans that are already tax deferred (e.g., 403(b) plans, 401(k) plans, and IRA rollovers).
The lawsuit claims VALIC promoted the deferred annuities to earn higher fees from the investments and surrender penalties. Plaintiff and the Class members would not have agreed to pay these fees and penalties if VALIC had disclosed the tax-deferral feature of the annuity was unnecessary for their retirement plans.
VALIC targeted teachers, hospitals, non-profit organization employees, state government employee plans, and others to purchase these higher-fee and unnecessary deferred annuities for their tax-deferred retirement plans.
These fees and penalties can result in the loss of up to one-third of each investor’s retirement account—an amount that would not have been lost if the investor had invested in mutual funds. Plaintiffs and the Class have lost millions of dollars in fees and surrender charges by purchasing these tax-deferred annuities from VALIC.
If you purchased an individual deferred annuity contract issued by VALID from 1974 to the present that was used to fund a contributory retirement plan, you are eligible to join this suit. You can also contact attorneys at (602) 840-5900.