Practice Area · Retirement Account Losses

IRA Rollover Abuse Attorney

Your broker had a legal duty to put your retirement savings first. When a rollover was unsuitable, undisclosed, or designed to generate commissions rather than protect your nest egg, you may have a claim.

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What Happened to Your Retirement

You Were Told the Rollover Was in Your Best Interest. It May Not Have Been.

Retirement is supposed to be the reward for decades of work and savings. But for many investors, the IRA rollover that was supposed to preserve and grow that wealth turned into an opportunity for brokers and advisers to generate fees, commissions, and trails at the investor's expense.

IRA rollover abuse occurs when a financial professional recommends moving retirement funds from a 401(k), pension, or existing IRA into a new account not because it serves the investor, but because it generates compensation. The products placed inside the new IRA, including high-commission variable annuities, non-traded REITs, and illiquid alternative investments, may have been entirely unsuitable for a retirement account.

Important: Under Reg BI (Regulation Best Interest) and ERISA fiduciary standards, your broker or investment adviser was required to act in your best interest when recommending a rollover. A recommendation driven by compensation conflicts is a regulatory violation that may entitle you to recover losses.

Warning Signs

Signs Your IRA Rollover May Have Been Abusive

Unsolicited Rollover Recommendation

Your broker pushed the rollover without you asking, often coinciding with a job change, retirement, or inheritance event when funds were available to move.

High-Commission Products Placed Inside

Variable annuities, indexed annuities, non-traded REITs, or other commission-heavy products were funded immediately after the rollover was completed.

Unexplained or Excessive Fees

You noticed surrender charges, mortality and expense fees, management fees, or advisory fees you were not clearly told about before the rollover.

Loss of Employer Plan Benefits

The rollover caused you to lose institutional pricing, stable value funds, or employer stock options that you were not adequately informed about before transferring.

No Written Rollover Analysis

Your broker never provided a written comparison of your old plan versus the new IRA, a document now required under Reg BI for rollover recommendations.

Funds Moved to Another Firm

Your retirement account was moved to a new brokerage or advisory firm where your adviser had recently joined, often without a clear benefit to you.

Your Legal Rights

The Rules Your Broker Was Required to Follow

IRA rollover recommendations became one of the most heavily regulated transactions in the financial industry following a series of regulatory reforms targeting compensation-driven conflicts.

Reg BI (Regulation Best Interest): As of June 2020, broker-dealers must act in the retail customer's best interest when recommending a rollover, including providing written disclosure of fees, conflicts, and the reasons the rollover is in the customer's interest.
DOL Rollover Rule (2024): The Department of Labor's updated fiduciary rule extended ERISA fiduciary obligations to one-time rollover recommendations from employer plans, closing a loophole that previously exempted many broker-dealer rollover recommendations from fiduciary scrutiny.
FINRA Rule 2111 / Suitability: Even before Reg BI, rollovers had to meet suitability standards, including an analysis of the customer's investment profile, the costs of the new account, and the benefits surrendered from the prior plan.
Variable Annuity Suitability (FINRA Rule 2330): When a variable annuity was purchased inside the new IRA, specific enhanced suitability review and principal approval were required before the transaction could be processed.
ERISA Section 406: Transactions involving employee benefit plan assets that benefit the adviser at the expense of the plan participant are prohibited transactions under ERISA, exposing advisers to liability regardless of FINRA arbitration.

Why Jorge Riera

The Credentials That Change the Analysis

IRA rollover cases require both regulatory depth and forensic financial analysis. Understanding whether a rollover recommendation complied with Reg BI, DOL fiduciary standards, and FINRA suitability rules demands fluency across multiple regulatory frameworks simultaneously.

Jorge L. Riera, Esq., CPA, CGMA brings credentials that few securities attorneys can match: a decade as Senior Counsel in the SEC's Division of Enforcement, a FINRA Board appointment as one of only 7 Public Members of the National Arbitration and Mediation Committee, and dual licensure as both an attorney and Certified Public Accountant.

CPA Advantage in Retirement Cases

Quantifying damages in rollover cases requires calculating the difference between what the investor would have earned in the prior plan versus what they actually earned, net of fees. Jorge's CPA credentials allow for faster case evaluation, better expert direction, and stronger cross-examination of brokerage damages models at the arbitration hearing.

SEC Enforcement Perspective

Having spent a decade prosecuting securities fraud at the SEC's Miami Regional Office, Jorge understands how regulators investigate compensation-driven misconduct and what documentary evidence brokers and firms are required to retain, including the rollover analysis documents now mandated by Reg BI.

The firm handles all IRA rollover abuse cases on a contingency fee basis. There is no legal fee unless we recover for you.

Case costs and expenses are payable from any recovery as provided in the written engagement agreement.

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or call (305) 204-9779

Legal Theories of Recovery

How IRA Rollover Cases Are Won in FINRA Arbitration

Successful rollover abuse claims in FINRA arbitration typically rely on one or more of the following legal theories:

Failure to comply with Reg BI: The broker did not act in the customer's best interest and did not provide the required written rollover disclosure comparing costs and benefits.
Unsuitability: The rollover recommendation, or the products placed inside the new IRA, did not match the customer's investment profile, time horizon, or risk tolerance.
Breach of fiduciary duty: Investment advisers registered under the Investment Advisers Act owe a fiduciary duty to clients; recommending a self-serving rollover breaches that duty.
Misrepresentation and omission: The broker failed to disclose fees, surrender charges, loss of employer plan benefits, or the existence of compensation conflicts driving the recommendation.
Failure to supervise: The broker's firm failed to establish and enforce adequate supervisory procedures for rollover recommendations, enabling misconduct to occur systematically.
Variable annuity violations: When a variable annuity was the destination product, violations of FINRA Rule 2330 enhanced suitability requirements create independent grounds for recovery.

Common Questions

IRA Rollover Abuse: Frequently Asked Questions

Key indicators include: a rollover followed immediately by purchase of a high-commission annuity or alternative investment; fees you were not clearly disclosed before moving the funds; loss of employer plan benefits your broker did not discuss; no written analysis of the rollover provided to you; and a broker who recently changed firms and brought your account with them.

Yes. Variable annuities and indexed annuities purchased inside IRAs are among the most common vehicles for rollover abuse claims. The fact that you now have surrender charges or are locked into a product does not eliminate your right to recover from the broker who recommended the unsuitable transaction.

Not necessarily. Investor signatures on account documents do not release brokers from their regulatory obligations. If the broker did not fully disclose the costs, conflicts, and alternatives before you signed, or if the recommendation was unsuitable regardless of your signature, the claim can proceed.

FINRA's eligibility rule generally requires arbitration claims to be filed within six years of the occurrence or event giving rise to the claim. The clock typically runs from the date the rollover was completed or the unsuitable product was purchased. Earlier consultation is better, as certain state law claims have shorter statutes of limitations that may also apply.

Recoverable damages typically include the difference between what your retirement funds would have earned in your prior plan and what they actually earned in the new account, plus fees and surrender charges you paid. In egregious cases, FINRA panels may also award punitive damages and attorneys' fees.

No Fee Unless We Win

Your Retirement Deserves a Real Investigation

IRA rollover abuse cases require fast action to preserve records and meet filing deadlines. Contact the firm today for a confidential, no-cost evaluation of your rollover and the products placed inside your retirement account.

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