MY STORY BEGINS:
In February of 1995 I was 57 years of age. I was happy and content with my retirement. I had $57,779.00 in an IRA account, it was my little nest egg to use in a few years. I was living in a very small California town called Rio Vista.

Somehow, I was targeted by Fidelity Investments Life Insurance and I was told I could immediately start using my IRA money, without penalty, before age 59 1/2, that was the lure used by Fidelity. An appointment was set up for a Fidelity employee to explain this program to me, in person, at my Rio Vista, CA home.

The first scam started when an insurance agent (Mr. Alan Smiley) showed up and did not tell us he was based in Salt Lake City, Utah. (An out of state insurance sales agent) His sales pitch convinced me I could use the immediate monthly income from an annuity, it was not disclosed he was selling "life insurance" or that Mr. Smiley was actually an insurance salesman. I was misled into thinking I was investing into a Fidelity mutual fund program. The instructions he gave me about the contract details such as “single life contract”, “no guarantee”, “no beneficiary”, “no joint annuitant”, and “no IRA disclosure statement was presented”, these details were all misleading and coordinated in favor of Fidelity life Insurance. Now I understand, the more I was defrauded, the bigger the commission for this insurance agent, they are trained to deceive. I have now ultimately lost the entire $57,779.00 IRA savings and I have nothing for my years of work and no retirement nest egg. Fidelity stated they did not send a Utah agent to my home but that is a big fat lie, if Fidelity did not send him then who did? We knew of no one selling insurance from Utah. At this point in time I am not sure who sold us the annuity contract, the man in question did not identify himself or leave a business card. It is entirely possible Alan Smiley allowed a California friend to use his name and his non-resident California license to make the sale, obviously something was very untoward. In any case, California Regulators would not investigate an out of state insurance agent. The agent in question ultimately left his non-resident CA license lapse after my contract sale. (Cut and run)P.S. Once I was robbed of my IRA savings I never heard from whoever sold me the faulty and erroneous annuity contract. Not surprising since this is typical of annuity salesman on commission who are trained to deceive.

My signed contract had only 8 Fidelity mutual funds as accounts in which I could invest, it was a simple contract. Scam #2 originated when Fidelity began to add accounts with outside firms (not even Fidelity supervised and a breach of my contract). One of these accounts was called PBHG. And, yes, this is the firm that was under SEC investigation for market timing. I did not know PBHG was not a Fidelity fund. Fidelity sent me material & brochures that stated this investment—PBHG—was up in value, over 100% and doing great. The true fact was PBHG was poorly rated and always had been poorly rated. On Fidelity's recommendation and assistance I switched to PBHG at $45.00 a share and when it was announced that PBHG was under SEC investigation for market timing violations it immediately dropped to $1.15 a share. Fidelity's inept guidance resulted in a nearly total loss of my IRA savings therefore, heed my message and don’t allow an annuity company access to your IRA savings. Banks, saving intuitions, and credit unions will manage your IRA savings safely with minimum risk and costs. Annuities on the other hand consider your IRA savings as funds that can be taken over to benefit their corporation and your needs are cruelly disregarded.

After my IRA savings were lost Fidelity eventually sent me a letter that stated that they were not responsible for the dishonest PBHG firm. (not even an apology) I Asked Fidelity to restore my contract prior to the PBHG transaction since their personnel provided, and misled me, into this disastrous investment as if it were a suitable annuity account. Of course Fidelity refused and I filed complaints with the California Insurance Commissioner, the SEC, my Congressman, and the IRS, just to name a few. Believe me, these agencies will take your complaint, but other than that, your IRA savings are lost forever. There is no way an agency can help you restore your lost IRA savings in an annuity contract. The politicians and lawyers will admit agents that sell annuities are nothing more than con artists and the Insurance Companies that employ these sales agents are as crooked as any thief you will ever meet. I trusted the honesty and integrity of Fidelity and that was my downfall, I pray that you do not make the same mistake as me.