Fireman’s Fund Insurance Employees Sue Over Investment Losses

Dozens of insurance company employees and retirees are suing after they lost as much as $30 million on advice they claim came from financial advisers hired by their employer.

Their lawsuit against Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. says the company retained the now-defunct AGA Financial to steer employees into early retirement.

The suit filed in Marin County Superior Court claims 46 employees who followed AGA’s advice lost their homes and others went bankrupt when the investments flopped.

State officials last week charged AGA owner Gary Armitage, his former partner Jeffery Guidi, and Stanley Koenig with defrauding more than 1,000 California investors out of $200 million.

In a statement, Fireman’s Fund said it did not directly hire AGA Financial and it’s not responsible for the losses.

“Fireman’s Fund has a long and hard earned reputation for taking care of its employees. One of the benefits we offer is financial education. We contracted with a national vendor to offer voluntary retirement planning training. That vendor was responsible for bringing local instructors to Novato to conduct the training. Individuals associated with AGA were among these local instructors. Our contract required the use of standard generic training material that did not endorse particular products. It is unfortunate that Fireman’s Fund employees and others suffered losses as a result of their investments with AGA, but we continue to believe that we are not responsible for these losses,” the company said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.