Tenn. Annuity Dealer in Receivership, Florida Follows Up

Following up on a warning she issued in April, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is now advising Florida consumers who made annuity transactions with the unauthorized Tennessee-based National Foundation of America that the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has appointed a special deputy to take over and resolve the company’s business affairs.

Tennessee officials have said they will “pursue all means necessary” in effort to have investments returned to the elderly consumers who invested with NFOA.

Records indicate that 41 Florida senior citizens, mostly in Central Florida and the Fort Myers area, transferred more than $6 million in assets to NFOA, and that 10 additional Florida transactions were never completed.

Sink told Floridians in April that NFOA was operating without a license, following an investigation by the Department of Financial Services’ Bureau of Investigation and the filing of a cease and desist order by the Office of Insurance Regulation. Now investigators have determined that the company never had designation as a 501(c)(3), or charitable organization, under the Internal Revenue Code.

“We are looking into the actions of several Florida agents who sold these products,” said CFO Sink, “and we stand ready to assist Tennessee officials in any way we can.”

NFOA marketed itself as a charitable organization and sold a term annuity product in several states, convincing consumers to replace their existing annuities or cash value life insurance policies in exchange for significant tax benefits due to their alleged charitable organization status.

Source: Florida Department of Financial Services