According to the Illinois Attorney General, hundreds of financially disadvantaged veterans in the state were scammed into buying insurance products, such as annuities after attending seminars on the subject. The seminars took place at assisted living facilities and other venues in Illinois and were presented as community outreach to help veterans and their families navigate certain pension benefits available from the Department of Veterans Affairs. They were then told they should purchase unnecessary annuities to qualify for the benefits. The seminars were put on by Atlantis Marketing Solutions, an annuity sales firm located in Shelby Township, Michigan and were a platform for insurance pitches. A lawsuit has been filed against the Association, Atlantis, Mary Lou Schneider, President of the Association, and Schaumburg, Illinois-based financial adviser James Cauthorn, who is regional director of the association. At the seminars, presenters told veterans that they needed to “reposition” their financial assets to “ensure financial eligibility” for VA pension benefits. The VA pension is a need-based program intended to help recipients with low assets.
Between January 2010 and November 2012, the association held 143 free seminars and had 2,114 meetings with possible customers. The firm sold over 270 annuities to veterans and their families between 2007 and 2012. The lawsuit alleges that the association and Atlantis violated Illinois consumer fraud law by failing to disclose that the presenters were insurance agents, who falsely claimed that the association could expedite the VA pension process, and for misrepresentations regarding the fact that they told consumers that they had to purchase annuities to qualify for the pension benefits. Please call our Chicago and Barrington, Illinois-based law firm today in order to speak to an attorney if you were a victim of the Illinois VA pension scam. We may be able to help you recover your investment losses on a contingency fee basis.
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