Korein Tillery Files Class Action Lawsuit on Behalf of Annuity Purchasers Against Mark Walter-Owned Insurers Clear Spring and Gainbridge
On October 12, 2026, Korein Tillery filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana against Clear Spring Life and Annuity Company and Gainbridge Life Insurance Company—insurers owned and controlled by Mark Walter, owner of TWG Global and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and co-owner of Guggenheim Partners.
The lawsuit, brought on behalf of Richard Phillips and a nationwide class of consumers who purchased annuities from Clear Spring and Gainbridge, was filed in the wake of federal investigations by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and SEC into so-called “related-party investments” that were held in the general accounts of these insurers, along with Delaware Life Insurance Company, but not disclosed to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) or state insurance regulators in mandatory annual statements, creating a false impression of the insurers’ risk and creditworthiness. These related-party investments were made using general account funds of Clear Spring and Gainbridge in separate businesses owned or controlled by Walter (either via TWG Global or Guggenheim). Similar false impressions of risk and creditworthiness were created by Delaware Life Insurance Company.
The suit brings breach of contract claims seeking full recission of the annuity contracts or compensatory damages against Clear Spring and Gainbridge, alleging that their misrepresentations and omissions regarding the true related-party investment composition of their general accounts backing the annuities breached promises related to the financial soundness of the insurers and resulted in consumers receiving annuities that were inferior to what was promised. "Simply put, Clear Spring and Gainbridge breached their contract with plaintiff and the class because they did not deliver an annuity with the credit and risk characteristics of an insurer with minimal related-party investments as promised," the complaint asserts.
The suit also seeks treble damages under the Indiana Crime Victims Relief Act, and asserts a fraudulent inducement and misrepresentation claim against the insurers, Walter, and officers of the insurers who signed sworn statements attesting to the accuracy of the false annual statements.
Clear Spring’s and Gainbridge’s original 2024 and 2025 annual statements stated that related-party investments only made up about 4% to 9% of Clear Spring's general account assets in 2024 to 2025 and about 1.7% of Gainbridge's assets in 2025. But in subsequent restatements and corrections, related-party investments during that time period constituted somewhere between 45.5% and 47.8% of the invested assets in Clear Spring and about 15.7% of Gainbridge's assets. In those corrections, Clear Spring increased the reported related-party investments for 2024 from about $1.1 billion to more than $5.9 billion, and for 2025 from about $486 million to more than $5.5 billion—with the $5.5 billion in related-party exposure being almost five times greater than Clear Spring's $1.2 billion in reported capital surplus at the end of 2025. As for Gainbridge, its correction increased reported related-party investments for 2024 from about $11.2 million to more than $45.3 million, and for 2025 from about $28.6 million to more than $268.7 million, representing more than 85% of the insurer's $314 million in reported capital surplus in 2025.
Korein Tillery’s investigation also confirmed that the misclassification of related-party investments in Clear Spring’s annual statements go back to at least 2017, and to at least 2022 for Gainbridge. Korein Tillery also identified evidence confirming previously published reports that Clear Spring and Gainbridge had used “cutouts”—nominally independent third parties—to conceal investments by Clear Spring, Gainbridge and Delaware Life in Walter’s businesses.
Korein Tillery attorneys leading the case include Steve Tillery, George Zelcs, Michael Klenov, and Chad Bell.
A copy of the complaint can be found here:
Press coverage of the case from the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Law360, and Crain’s Chicago Business can be found at the links below (paywalls may apply):
