SC attorneys launch national firm targeting IUL fraud

A duo of South Carolina trial attorneys has launched a new litigation firm.

South Carolina trial attorneys Robert Rikard and Peter Protopapas have opened RP Legal LLC, a national litigation firm focused exclusively on representing individuals harmed by indexed universal life insurance policies, according to a news release.

Based in Columbia, RP Legal LLC builds on the duo’s decades of experience litigating complex civil cases across the country, the release stated. A national leader in IUL litigation, Rikard has represented more than 400 clients and helped recover tens of millions of dollars from insurance companies and financial firms that marketed deceptive insurance products as retirement or investment plans.

“We launched RP Legal LLC to hold accountable the insurance companies, agents and so-called financial advisers who mislead people into buying these policies,” Rikard said in the release. “In case after case, we have seen the same pattern: false promises, financial loss and families left to deal with the fallout. These agents often pretend to be retirement planners, tax experts or fiduciaries when they are nothing more than insurance salespeople pushing dangerous products.”

South Carolina is currently a hotspot for IUL marketing schemes, with a recent uptick in agents targeting vulnerable populations across the state, including veterans, according to the release. These agents often use misleading marketing tactics, claiming that they are “low-risk, high-reward solutions” for retirement or estate planning and promise “tax-free retirement” income through policy loans. Thousands in South Carolina and beyond have been persuaded to invest in these policies, only to be left with costly and complex products that are often hit with rising costs and hidden fees that drain the policy’s value and lead to collapse, the release stated.

Victims of IUL policies include retirees, professionals, business owners, athletes, celebrities and working families. What they all share is the painful realization, often years after buying the policy, that they were sold a false sense of security, according to the release. These policies are frequently presented with incomplete or misleading information, leaving clients exposed to risks they never understood.

RP Legal LLC provides nationwide legal representation to individuals harmed by IUL policies and is an extension of the law firm Rikard and Protopapas, where they continue to practice, according to the release. The new national platform is committed to exposing deceptive insurance practices, including the growing misuse of premium financing, misleading IRA and 401(k) rollovers into IULs, and a widespread problem of insurance agents posing as financial advisers. RP Legal LLC helps clients recover losses and hold those responsible accountable, the release said.