As we previously reported, in September 2017, a federal district
court in Louisiana dismissed with prejudice as time-barred putative
class action RICO and state racketeering claims related to alleged
wrongful conduct by an agent in connection with annuities issued by
Sun Life. See Expect Focus, Volume IV, Dec. 2017.
Robertson v. Sun Life Financial, commenced in state
court in 2008, arose after the plaintiff, an annuity
owner, noticed fraudulent withdrawals from his Sun Life annuity
account. He asserted state common law claims predicated on a theory
that the insurer negligently breached the annuity contract by
failing to follow certain industry standards, thereby failing to
prevent the wrongful conduct. There was a concurrent criminal
proceeding against one of the civil defendants, Matthew Pizzolato,
the son of one of Sun Life's agents. Pizzolato pleaded guilty
to multiple counts of mail fraud and other offenses related to the
fraudulent withdrawal and was sentenced to
