Equitable to Pay $50 Million Over Misleading Statements on Annuity Fees

Posted on August 2nd, 2022 at 2:15 PM
Equitable to Pay $50 Million Over Misleading Statements on Annuity Fees

From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law.

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed fraud charges against Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co. for furnishing account statements to nearly 1.4 million variable annuity investors containing materially misleading statements as well as omissions regarding investor fees.


In an effort to settle the charges, Equitable has agreed to pay $50 million to harmed investors, which primarily include public school teachers and staff members. According to the SEC, Equitable falsely informed investors that their quarterly account statements listed all fees paid during the period since at least 2016. According to the SEC’s order, Equitable “presented fees in several sections of its EQUI-VEST variable annuity account statements, including dollar values spread across various columns and rows, creating the false impression that all fees investors paid during the period were being detailed in the account statements.”


Additionally, the SEC alleged that Equitable’s account statements failed to detail the most substantial fees that investors paid during the period. Alternatively, the account statements listed only certain types of administrative, transaction and plan operating fees, which constitutes only a small fraction of the total fees paid by the investor, according to the SEC. In addition to paying a $50 million civil penalty, Equitable has agreed to review and alter how it presents fee information to variable annuity investors.


Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, regulatory and disciplinary matters.

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law, advisors, law

Return to Archive

TESTIMONIALS

Previous
Next

If the regulators are after you, and are trying to make a case against you, and you are going to contest their allegations against you, make sure you have the best securities industry defense lawyers, Eccleston Law Firm. My case was spun into a combination of penalties including fines, cash settlements, CE courses and suspension. They were the best I have seen in action. When all was said and done, they had done their magic, my situation was negotiated and settled with a simple "letter of caution" and a case closed without action. It is the most important legal business decision you will ever make, make it Eccleston Law.

Rick R.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

February 11, 2026
Ameriprise Advisor Phishing Incident Potentially Exposes Client Data

A phishing incident involving an Ameriprise Financial advisor potentially exposed the personal information of hundreds of clients, according to a disclosure posted by the Maine Attorney General’s office.

February 10, 2026
Merrill Lynch Expands Client Disclosures on Crypto and AI Risks

Merrill Lynch updated its required client disclosure brochure to address, for the first time, the evolving risks tied to cryptocurrency-linked investments and the firm’s expanding use of Artificial Intelligence tools.

February 9, 2026
FINRA Orders Osaic Unit to Pay Over $5 Million for Misleading Bank Deposit Program Disclosures

The Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ordered independent broker-dealer Osaic and its acquired firm, American Portfolios Financial Services, to pay more than $5 million after finding that American Portfolios misled customers about how it calculated fees in its bank deposit program.