The state of Illinois is moving to shut down the business of a Springfield-based insurance agent alleged to have steered seniors into indexed annuities that earned high commissions for the agent but steep losses for clients.
Illinois state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, filed a lawsuit Thursday in Sangamon County Court against Richard Lee Van Dyke Jr., and his financial firm, Dick Van Dyke Financial Ltd.
The lawsuit asks the court to prohibit Van Dyke from using deceptive marketing and to pay back commissions earned on the sale of replacement annuities to his clients.
Court documents state that Van Dyke earned $160,937.05 for 31 transactions, but his clients lost $263,822.13.
At the same time, Illinois insurance director Andrew Boron moved to revoke Van Dyke's insurance license based on Madigan's complaint. The revocation will be effective in 30 days, as per Illinois law.
The Madigan lawsuit contends that Van Dyke "falsely advertised and misrepresented" to Springfield seniors that he "acts as an objective, knowledgeable and unbiased financial expert to help them make sound choices in investing their retirement savings."
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In reality, Madigan said in the lawsuit, "the goal of Van Dyke's misrepresentations was to gain the trust of older citizens and steer them into buying indexed annuities — mainly insurance investment product — from which he earned high commissions."
Separately, Madigan said that more than 90 percent of Van Dyke's business involved commissioned-based annuities sales.
