Tuesday, January 21, 2010—this year I am going to be briefer in hopes of getting the message of Annuity Fraud out to anyone who is interested in my posting. On a positive note, I was contacted by CNN and I hope my story makes the news someday. In the images section of the complaint I have posted my January 04 statement and 1099R from Fidelity. If you go there you will see my Fidelity Annuity provides me with a zero monthly income. If you have any doubts about seniors being scammed out of their life savings, my Fidelity Annuity statement should eliminate all doubt. The pittance goes for taxes, I get nothing, and I followed Fidelity’s green stripe and was promised security in my retirement years. Instead, Fidelity lost my entire $57K IRA savings. On a different subject I want to mention some details about a Fidelity employee Daniel J. Bresnahan. The name is possibly a pseudonym. Presenting himself to me as a Director of Fidelity Annuities Bresnahan has a unique job. It’s creepy but it most likely pays well. Daniel J. Bresnahan’s job is to carry out unpleasant tasks for superior Fidelity Executives. For instance, signing letters to the victims of the Fidelity annuity losses. Recently Bresnahan wrote to me and intimated I was confused because I wrote a complaint letter to Fidelity VP Bob Cummings. VP Bob Cummings sends me Fidelity junk mail, with his signature, as if I was his friend and I object to this violation of privacy in the face of Fidelity losing my savings. I politely told VP Cummings to stop sending me Fidelity junk mail. Did VP Cummings write back to me? Nope, the job was too dirty and got assigned to crafty Daniel J. Bresnahan. I mention this because Bresnahan has written a few other “hatchet man” letters to me and I have never initiated a letter to this mysterious person. Fidelity juggles their executive officers to various positions and these executives never respond to clients. Therefore, the Fidelity hierarchy uses this name Daniel J. Bresnahan, to be their slick flimflam person to whitewash the Annuity misdeeds and in my case defraud a senior. Watch out for this Fidelity course of action and stay away from Variable Annuities. Annuities are the biggest mistake seniors make with their retirement nest egg. Why? The older we become, the more likely our health will begin to fail and our need for our savings will increase. Once you spend your savings on an annuity it’s spent, and it is lost forever. Consider long term needs and keep your savings tangible. I know because I made the biggest mistake a senior could make.

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 an agent to explain this program to me, in person, at my Rio Vista, CA home.

The first scam started when the agent showed up and did not tell us he was from Salt Lake City, Utah. (An out of state 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. Now I understand, the more I was defrauded, the bigger the commission for the 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. California Regulators would not pursue an out of state insurance agent. The agent in question ultimately let his non-resident CA license lapse after my contract sale. (Cut and run)

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). One of these accounts was called PBHG. And, yes, this is the firm that was under investigation (SEC) 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 has been poorly rated. I switched to PBHG at $45.00 a share and when it was learned PBHG was under SEC investigation for violations it dropped to $1.15 a share.

After my IRA savings were lost Fidelity eventually sent me a letter that stated that they were not responsible for the dishonest PBHG firm. 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.