Advisor Group Seeks at Least $900K From Venerable in Lawsuit

Although the term of the agreement was only one year, the deal automatically renewed for successive one-year periods, unless either party provided written notice to the other 60 days prior to the end of the first year or renewable periods, according to the complaint. Compensation under the deal was also to continue being paid for five years from the date of termination, Advisor Group said.

After Venerable Holdings acquired the defendants from Voya Financial on or about June 1, 2018, Ken Brown, Venerable chief operations officer and executive vice president (and previously senior vice president of sales at Voya), wrote to Advisor Group, terminating the letter agreement and alleging "no additional marketing allowance payments shall be due or payable after this date," according to the complaint.

Advisor Group contacted the defendants to inform them that they had a continued obligation to continue making minimum annual payments for five years following the termination, the complaint alleges. To date, however, the defendants had yet to make any post-termination payments, according to Advisor Group.

In addition to the minimum of $900,000 in compensatory damages the BD is requesting, it is also seeking interest, legal fees and a declaratory judgment finding Venerable must honor the terms of the agreement.