Vicki Gunvalson Pleads with Judge over Elder Abuse Lawsuit.
The Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson, 62 has been accused of financial elder abuse and fraud by Diane Field, 74 – one-time client of Vicki’s Coto Insurance & Financial Services firm. Diane Field alleges in the suit, filed in May at the Superior Court of California in Orange County, that she was taken advantage of Vicki Gunvalson and her business partner Ali Hashemian.
Vicki Gunvalson Hits Back at Financial Elder Abuse Lawsuit
As In Touch first reported, Diane claimed she met Vicki in 2019 and said Vicki and Vicki’s partner Ali convinced her to hire them to help manage her finances and take out a life insurance policy. Diane said her 85-year-old husband George was injured in a bike accident in 2002. She was responsible for managing her estate worth around $6 million. In the suit, Diane claimed Vicki and Ali said they could help lower her income tax and increase future/potential financial capital for her children. Diane also claimed Vicki and Ali told her the investments she provided would be put in a safe and conservative fund.
“Vicki was very convincing, and Diane felt that she could trust her,” the suit explained. Diane accused Vicki and Ali of fraudulent sales tactics. She said the life insurance policy ended up costing her hundreds of thousands more than she expected. On top of that, she said the investments did not earn like she believed they would. In December 2022, Diane told Vicki and Ali that she had concerns about the investment recommendations over the years.
In December 2022, Diane Field claimed that she emailed to Gunvalson and Hashemian, writing 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.”
Gretchen Rossi, Lynne Curtin, Tamra Barney, Vicki Gunvalson at the TV GUIDE Magazine’s Hot List Party, SLS Hotel, Los Angeles, CA
Diane accused the duo of financial elder abuse and demanded unspecified damages.
Vicki is best known to television viewers as a cast member of The Real Housewives of Orange County, which premiered on March 2006. Vicki Gunvalson has an estimated net worth of $7 million and reportedly she earned $500,000 per season from the show. Mrs Gunvalson is the owner of the insurance agency called Coto Insurance and Financial Services and later expanded the business with associates in Bellevue, Washington, and Atlanta. Vicki has two adult children – a daughter Briana Culberson and son Michael Wolfsmith and currently in a relationship with Michael Smith.