Ameriprise Advisor Sued by Client's Estate Over Annuity Switch

What You Need to Know

The client told her children she felt pressured to transfer assets into a new annuity, the suit alleges.

An Ameriprise Financial advisor faces a lawsuit alleging financial abuse over investment recommendations he made to an elderly client.

A representative of Edna Bubna’s estate filed suit this week in state court in Oregon against advisor Jason Doneth, Ameriprise Financial and Doneth’s previous firm, LPL Financial.

Bubna, who died in 2022, was 83 when Doneth met with her at her extended care facility and “encouraged her to transfer her assets into a financial vehicle that she did not understand so that he could invest her money,” the lawsuit alleges.

“The amount of money invested into (an) annuity was $409,000. Additional funds in an undetermined amount were invested in securities,” according to the complaint, which says Bubna previously had worked with a different advisor who sold his business to Doneth.

Bubna’s estate “has suffered economic damages in the amount of at least $60,000 in fees on an annuity that was approximately $409,000 and the interest each year estimated to be approximately $24,000,” the complaint says.

Her estate’s representative seeks $100,000 in economic damages, tripled, and $250,000 in non-economic damages, among other costs. The lawsuit alleges financial abuse against a vulnerable person, fraud and conversion of assets without legal authority.

Doneth advised Bubna to give up her fixed 5% annuity and purchase a new annuity that paid 6% at an estimated $60,000 cost, the lawsuit alleges.

“Doneth convinced Edna Bubna to allow him to make the transfer by advising her that it was a good choice for her and that she would make her money back by postponing distributions to her from the annuity. She told her children that she felt pressured by Doneth to make the change,” the complaint contends.