Insurance Agent Gets Jail Time for Selling Annuity to Elderly Woman; He Denies Recognizing Dementia
Updated: A California insurance agent has been convicted of felony theft and sentenced to jail for selling an annuity with an early withdrawal penalty to an elderly woman, despite, prosecutors say, her apparent dementia.
The agent, Glenn Neasham, was sentenced to 90 days in jail last month in a case that “is sending shivers down the spines of Mr. Neasham’s peers across the country,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Neasham had maintained the 83-year-old woman didn’t appear confused when she came to his office in 2008 with her longtime boyfriend, who had purchased an annuity like the one she decided to buy. Neasham had sold the woman an indexed annuity that pays interest tied to stock and bond-market indexes. The insurer guarantees that buyers won’t lose principal, but the buyers face penalties if they withdraw their money before a specified period.
“I never expected conviction,” Neasham told the Wall Street Journal. “I thought the case would be thrown out.” His lawyers have filed notice of appeal.
A California appeals court reversed Neasham’s conviction in 2013, according to InsuranceNewsNet. The court said prosecutors didn’t prove that Neasham knew of the woman’s dementia. The court also said there was no theft because the woman received the annuity in an exchange of equal value, and Neasham did not take any of the woman’s funds for his own use.
The annuity company refunded the full value of the annuity, with interest, after Neasham’s conviction.
The California Supreme Court affirmed the reversal of Neasham’s conviction in 2014, InsuranceNewsNet reported.
