Retirees allege investment fraud and fault Philadelphia barrister
One in an occasional series. Fred Demeo was on edge, anxious about the ominous clouds hovering over Wall St and his plummeting retirement account. It was March 12, 2009, an appalling day in a savage recession, and financial markets had dropped to almost half the value of 16 months earlier. Demeo opened the door of his miniscule gray ranch house in Toms Stream on the Jersey Shore and ushered in 3 well-dressed men who said they were there to help him manage his money.
Michael Kwasnik, a counsel based in Philadelphia, handed Demeo a card that said he was “founding chairman” of Liberty Bell Bank in Evesham Township. The two others, instruments salesmen Joseph Schifano and Daniel McCorry, who had been providing investment guidance to Demeo for just about 10 years, had set up the meeting.
The task of separating Demeo from his cash was about to begin. As Beverly Demeo offered the visitors coffee and cake, the three men hovered over her 72-year-old husband. They warned that one of his annuities, with ING, was “about to tank.” That he was too ancient to be in the exchange. The big mortgage companies and investment houses were about to fail. They had a better concept. They urged Demeo to take his money out of ING and invest in Freedom State Benefits of Pennsylvania, an investment company Kwasnik’s pa ran. According to Demeo, McCorry said Freedom State Benefits was such a good prospect that his very own ma had invested in it.
“Just do it, just do it,” Schifano barked to an ING representative when Demeo put him on the telephone to chat about cashing out the annuity. For Demeo, the investment in Freedom State Benefits stopped badly. Although Kwasnik returned his $71,000 6 weeks later under stress from Demeo’s counsel, Demeo claims he later learned from ING that cashing out the investment fraud lawyers had made him forfeit a $234,000 life-insurance policy.
It was a benefit he had already paid for. He is saying Kwasnik and the others never told him he would lose the life insurance. Kwasnik disputes Demeo’s account, saying he knew the implications. Yet Demeo is adamant. The retired corrections officer gave evidence later in a lawsuit against Kwasnik and the others: “I felt confused and a little scared. I didn't know what to assert, truly. They said get rid of it, dump it, get into this. I knew immediately I had made a mistake. “.
This draft like investment fraud lawyers and investment fraud attorneys . Posted by John McCain.
January 15, 2012 | Posted by John McCain
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