Court: United States District Court, District of Minnesota

Ciofoletti, et al. v. Securian Financial Group, et al., Case No. 18-cv-03025-JNE-ECW

Leadership Position: Interim Co-Lead Counsel

Wexler Boley & Elgersma and co-counsel brought this breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit against Securian Financial Group and its relevant financial services firms and advisors (“Securian”) and Shurwest LLC (“Shurwest”), Securian’s Master Brokerage General Agent. Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants marketed and sold life insurance policies in conjunction with structured cash flow products (“FIP Products”) to be purchased by the insureds from Future Income Payments, LLC (or its subsidiaries) (“FIP”). The FIP Products were proposed as a premium financing device to class members by financial advisors who were agents and/or brokers of Securian. Said brokers and agents were introduced to FIP Products by employees of Shurwest.

State regulatory agencies investigated the FIP Products and determined that they constituted illegal usurious loans as early as 2015. Defendants, however, continued to sell FIP Products in conjunction with Securian IUL products through 2018, by which time over 20 states had determined that FIP products were unlawful. When FIP ceased operations as a result, Plaintiffs and the Class not only lost their investments in FIP Products, but also lost or were at risk of losing the life insurance policies purchased from the Defendants.  Without the cash flows from the FIP Products, they could no longer pay for the policies or had to pay from sources other than the FIP products, which had been marketed and sold to them as a method to fund the premiums.

Wexler Boley & Elgersma was appointed as Interim Co-Lead Counsel in the case.