Two Ex-MetLife Brokers Fined for Annuities Scheme

Posted on April 10th, 2014 at 9:00 AM

From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law Offices:

Christopher Birli and Patrick Chapin, two former brokers for MetLife Securities Inc., allegedly engaged in a seven-year scheme to pump up commissions by having customers switch $21 million in annuities.

A variable annuity is a type of insurance product that offers investors steady income payments, typically in exchange for a lump-sum investment. Payments can grow if financial markets do well because they are tied to an investment portfolio, usually consisting of mutual funds holding stocks and bonds. Brokers are well rewarded for selling variable annuities, in part because of their high commissions, as much as 8 percent.

Between 2004 and 2007, the two former MetLife brokers, allegedly recommended that 45 of their customers switch MetLife variable annuities held in their employer plan retirement accounts with new variable annuities held in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) outside their employer plan. Birli and Chapin structured the deals in a way to circumvent a MetLife policy that generally prohibited exchanging the two types of variable annuities in the transactions. The brokers advised clients to first cash in their retirement plan annuities and then buy another security within the plan to hold for 90 days. Clients would then sell that security to buy a variable annuity through an IRA. The scheme generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions and subjected investors to unnecessary risk. 

The attorneys of Eccleston Law Offices represent investors and advisers nationwide in securities and employment matters. Our attorneys draw on a combined experience of nearly 50 years in delivering the highest quality legal services.

Related Attorneys: James J. Eccleston

Tags:

Return to Archive

TESTIMONIALS

Previous
Next

If you are being bothered by the Regulators, call Eccleston Law, you won't regret it.

Rick R.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

March 13, 2025
Congress Considers Expanding the Accredited Investor Definition

A recent congressional hearing examined potential reforms to the accredited investor definition, a critical threshold determining who can participate in private market investments.

March 12, 2025
GPB Capital Investors May Receive Some Compensation Under Proposed Distribution Plan

GPB Capital Holdings investors have not received returns on their investments since 2018. According to InvestmentNews, after years of litigation, a court-appointed receiver has submitted a plan to return funds to the 17,000 investors who purchased $1.8 billion in GPB limited partnerships.

March 11, 2025
Former CNBC Analyst Pleads Guilty to $2.7 Million Securities Fraud Scheme

James Arthur McDonald Jr., a former financial advisor and frequent CNBC guest analyst, has agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud, admitting to defrauding investors out of at least $2.7 million, as reported by ThinkAdvisor. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.