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Rockland County Supreme Court. Credit: New York State Unified Court System

Life Health > Annuities > Variable Annuities

Equitable, Consultant Sued Over Rollover Into an Annuity

By Allison Bell

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A retired New York resident has accused a financial consultant of misrepresenting the benefits of rolling $202,624 in savings from a retirement account into a variable annuity.

Simone Russo asserts in a lawsuit filed last week in a state court in Rockland County, New York, that the consultant, David Turk, led him to believe that the AXA Equitable Accumulator Plus Variable Deferred Annuity With Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefit would provide a guaranteed minimum income benefit, or lifetime income stream, of $1,090 per month.

Russo received monthly benefits from 2008 through 2018, but Turk, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company and AXA Equitable affiliates failed to provide the information Russo needed to get the GMIB benefit, and payments ended in September 2022, according to the complaint.

Russo has accused Turk of fraudulent misrepresentation and AXA Equitable and related companies of having liability for Turk’s actions.

AXA Equitable and its affiliates are subsidiaries of Equitable Holdings. Turk and Equitable did not respond to requests for comment.

The defendants: In addition to Turk, AXA Equitable and Equitable Holdings, the list of defendants includes Equitable Advisors, Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. and Equitable Distributors.

Turk holds the certified financial planner professional designation.

“At all times, when providing financial advice, Turk, individually and as a representative of the Equitable defendants, owed a fiduciary duty to his clients, including plaintiff, and was obligated to act in the best interest of his clients,” Russo says.

The purchase: Russo says in the complaint that he was 68 in December 2006 and living on $3,600 in retirement income per month.

Turk, a friend of Russo’s daughter, encouraged Russo to replace his existing retirement account. Turk gave Russo an annuity illustration in February 2007. He never provided a copy of the contract, an explanation of the illustration or other documents, Russo says.

The application showed that Russo had a net worth of $1.2 million and that he had received a prospectus on CD-ROM, although he had not provided financial information and had not received a CD-ROM, according to the complaint.

Russo reports that, earlier this year, Equitable told him in a letter that he had failed to exercise his GMIB rights on time and also directed him to his monthly statements.

The statements reflect deductions taken by the AXA Equitable affiliates for a GMIB charge, Russo says.

Rockland County Supreme Court. Credit: New York State Unified Court System

Allison Bell

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