Arizona Seniors Lost Millions in Annuity Fees

A series of lawsuits claim that officials with National Future Benefits Unlimited racked up unprecedented commissions by pressuring seniors to exchange their existing annuities for new ones. In the process, policyholders were faced with high surrender fees and a potential tax liability. In one of the lawsuits, an insurance company claims that National Future Benefits Unlimited systematically targeted clients to cash out their annuities. In the other, an elderly Phoenix couple charge they were defrauded out of most of their assets.

Company officials deny any wrongdoing and say that bonuses and better interest rates were part of the new offerings. National Future Benefits has offices in Scottsdale and Oro Valley, Ariz., and Henderson, Nev.

National Future Benefits president Randall Jaeger told the Arizona Republic earlier this month that “I know how it looks. I’m upset over how it was twisted and turned…how it was made to look like I was trying to take (clients’) money.”