State kicks off task force to protect seniors from fraud

TAMPA — Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink kicked off her new "Safeguard Our Seniors" task force Monday, pledging to find better ways to protect the elderly from financial fraud.

"It's time for us to draw a line in the sand and say no more of these shenanigans," Sink said. "It's not right."

Three elderly women sat around a table with Sink at the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office, sharing heartbreaking stories of how they got duped out of their savings. As they lost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on inappropriate investments, their insurance agents made thousands in commissions.

The meeting site was symbolic, given Sink's desire to secure tougher penalties against agents who sell seniors annuity contracts that they don't need or want. Legislators did not pass a bill last session that would have made annuity fraud a felony.

Bonnie Madden, 81, of Port Richey said her insurance agent, Randolph Kahl-Winter, hugged and kissed her each time she visited his office and called her his "second mom."

"I figured he knew what he was doing," she said. "So anything he said, I believed him."

Through a series of misrepresentations, including inflating Madden's net worth and forging her signature on an annuity application, Kahl-Winter generated $52,000 in commissions, state officials said. The Department of Financial Services recovered almost $300,000.

Annuities are insurance contracts that offer a guaranteed series of payments over a period of time. The contracts carry large financial penalties if they are cashed out too soon.

Kahl-Winter could not be reached Monday. State officials are seeking to revoke the agent's license, said Deputy Chief Financial Officer Tammy Teston.

The number of senior annuity fraud investigations increased from 37 in 2003-04 to 276 in 2007-08, according to the financial services department.

These "bad actors," as Sink calls them, leave their victims feeling foolish and deceived.

The state permanently revoked the insurance license of the man who earned more than $140,000 in commissions by selling Alice Bouchard, 94, about 30 annuities over six years. Officials helped recoup some of the more than $300,000 she lost to penalty fees and surrender periods that would have kept her money locked up until she was 100.

But the New Port Richey widow remains angry.

"They should go to jail and stay there for a long time," she said. "They take the life of the elderly. If your money is all gone, what are you going to do?"

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at cjenkins@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3337.