The Iowa Insurance Division has revoked the insurance producer license of former nonresident agent Starrla Ramae Norman and ordered her to pay nearly $55,000 following an investigation that found she targeted retired federal employees with unsuitable annuity sales and deceptive financial practices.
Under a Consent Order issued by the Division, Norman, of Dexter, Missouri, is no longer authorized to conduct insurance business in Iowa. She has also been permanently barred from participating in Iowa’s securities industry. In addition to losing her license, Norman must pay $44,954 in restitution to an affected Iowa consumer and $10,000 to reimburse the state for investigative and enforcement costs.
State regulators alleged that Norman attended professional gatherings of retired postal workers and encouraged participants to cash out their federal Thrift Savings Plans (TSPs) in order to purchase fixed indexed annuities that generated substantial commissions. Investigators concluded that many of the recommendations were not in the clients’ best interests.
According to the Iowa Insurance Division, the investigation uncovered multiple violations involving three Iowa consumers.
Among the findings, regulators said Norman falsified financial information on annuity applications by overstating clients’ income, net worth, and liquid assets to increase the likelihood of approval. Investigators determined she failed to exercise the level of care and diligence required when recommending annuity products and lacked a reasonable basis to conclude the recommendations were suitable.
The Division also accused Norman of engaging in annuity “twisting,” a practice in which existing annuity contracts are unnecessarily replaced with similar products. Officials alleged she concealed the replacement transactions on application documents and routed surrender proceeds directly to consumers to avoid insurer oversight. As a result, affected clients reportedly incurred significant surrender charges and market value adjustments.
Investigators further alleged that Norman used remote electronic signature technology from Missouri while representing that she was physically present with Iowa consumers during the application process. In addition, the Division found she provided investment advice regarding the liquidation of securities held in retirement accounts despite not being registered as an investment adviser or securities agent in Iowa.
The administrative action follows a separate criminal investigation conducted by the Iowa Insurance Fraud Bureau. Norman has pleaded guilty to Insurance Fraud – Application Submission, a Class D felony, after admitting that she knowingly submitted an insurance application containing false material information to Allianz Life Insurance Company on behalf of an Iowa consumer between August and October 2023. Sentencing is scheduled for September 4, 2026.
Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen said protecting retirees from financial exploitation remains a top priority for the Division. He encouraged anyone who believes they were pressured into liquidating retirement accounts or misled about annuity replacements, surrender charges, or application documents to contact the Iowa Insurance Division so investigators can help recover losses and prevent similar misconduct.
Information for this article was provided by Iowa Insurance Division. Views and claims expressed in this article are those of the source company and do not necessarily reflect the views of AgencyEquity.com. This article may have been edited with the help of AI.
