Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson was hit with a bombshell lawsuit accusing her of financial elder abuse and fraud, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Vicki, 62, was sued by a woman named Diane Field. The other defendants in the lawsuit, filed in May, are listed as Allianz Life Insurance Company, Coto Insurance & Financial Services and another investment company.
In her suit, Diana, 74, said for 22 years, from 1997 to 2019, her and her husband George Field invested 90 percent of their joined net worth in stocks and mutual funds with a firm in Orange County, California.
Diane said they were able to live off their work salaries and pensions and did not need to take money out of these accounts, except to pay taxes.
In 2002, George, 85, was seriously injured in a bicycle accident and Diane took over control over their finances. Diane said her and her husband had around $6 million.
The money was held in an investment account and a separate account they put money in for their daughter. In 2019, Diane said she met Vicki after her friend scheduled an appointment with the RHOC star to talk investments. At the meeting, Diane said Vicki was not interested in working with her friend because she didn’t have at least $500,000 to invest.
Diane said Vicki told her she could help manage her finances and suggested her investing in Allianz annuities. Diane said she was not interested in annuities and was more comfortable in the stock market because “she and George’s finances had always been in stocks and mutual funds, which she understood.”
The suit said Vicki told Diane to talk to her partner Ali, “as he had the expertise in the stock market, and that together they could put her in a safer diversified plan that would also help lower the taxes she had been paying.”
Diane said she was interested in her taxes being lowered and agreed to meet with Ali, adding that she later met with Vicki and Ali. According to Diane, they told her they could lower her income taxes and increase future/potential financial capital for her children, according to the suit.
Around the same time, Diane claimed George’s health took a “deep dive.” “Looking back, Diane thinks the anguish and trauma she was enduring at this time contributed to her letting herself put her trust in [Vicki] and [Ali] as they seemed so sincere and appeared to be working for Diane’s best interest,” the suit read.
Diane said she had additional conversations with Vicki and Ali about investing.
She claimed they promised her the Allianz 222 Annuity was a safe and conservative investment guaranteed to make money, the suit alleged.
“[Vicki] kept reassuring her how safe this Allianz 222 Annuity was and also kept mentioning that her income taxes would go down if she invested in this annuity and that her kids would be well-suited after she passed away. [Vicki] was very convincing, and Diane felt that she could trust her,” the suit explained.
She said Ali convinced her to transfer funds in stocks to an outside firm managed under Ali at Fidelity Investments, had her take out a life insurance policy without telling her it cost $300,000 a year, Diane said in reliance of Vicki’s “fraudulent sales tactics and her promises that this annuity would help lower her income taxes” she transferred money into the Allianz 222 Indexed Annuity.
In early 2021, Diane said another $300,000 payment was made for her life insurance policy even though she believed it was a one-time payment not a yearly payment.
She said he made the payment because she felt like her hands were tied. George passed in October 2021.
In December 2022, Diane underwent surgery to remove lung cancer. In early 2021, she said Vicki and Ali persuaded her to put more money into the Allianz annuity.
Around February 2022, Diane paid another $300,000 premium on the life insurance policy.
She said she started to question why she was paying this yet again, “as this was not what [Ali] had promised,” but she went ahead and did it anyway, as her husband had recently passed away and she was still mourning his loss (and she was recovering from her own hip surgery).”
In August 2022, she said she moved her money out of the account managed by Ali.
She said in December 2022 she told Vicki and Ali she was concerned about their investment recommendations over the years, “explaining that she felt uninformed by them and that the annuities and life insurance policy they convinced her to open did not seem to be the best investments for her, as they tie up large sums of money for a long time that she may never be able to use, for maybe longer than she will live or will be too old to enjoy.”
Diane said Vicki called her and they modified the new life insurance policy.
Diane said she paid a premium of $100,000 on the new policy in April 2023.
“As of approximately April 10, 2024, the accumulation value of Diane’s Allianz life insurance policy (Policy No. xxxx4073) was $661,816.74, cash surrender value was $387,497.96 and the death benefit of $3,539,077.00. The listed agents are still both [Vicki] and [Ali]. The total premium Diane has paid on this policy as of April 10, 2024, was $1,000,000,” the suit read.
“As of approximately April 10, 2024, the value of Diane’s Allianz 222 IRA annuity (Policy No. xxxx1487) was $750,506.21.” Diane said Vicki “repeatedly contacted” her in March and April 2024, “to remind her of the $100,00 premium payment owed to Allianz for her life insurance policy. [Vicki] wanted to know if Diane would take the money out of her stocks and bonds accounts so [Vicki] could get the payment into Allianz for her like she usually did.”
Diane said she reached out to Allianz directly in April 2024 to “see what the due date was, and a representative at Allianz told Diane that she had over $600,000 in her account since she was previously paying $300,000 a year in premiums.” She said the Allianz rep told her she did not need to send any payments because of this excess in her account.
Diane accused Vicki and Ali of financial elder abuse claiming they had her enter into harmful deals.
The lawsuit demanded unspecified damages for the defendant’s alleged conduct.
Back in 2018, Vicki was sued by an 82-year-old woman named Joan Lile for alleged fraud over a life insurance policy she was sold.
A lawyer for Vicki said, “The claims alleged against Gunvalson are completely false. Gunvalson has always acted professionally and with the utmost truthfulness and integrity in every transaction that she acted as an insurance agent for her clients. She has never engaged in any fraudulent conduct nor misrepresented any terms of any policy. She vehemently denies the false allegations made against her in the lawsuit by Mrs. Lile.” The suit was dismissed months later.
The lawsuit filed by Diane remains active.
