Local Executive Sentenced in Annuities Scam

The president of Fi-Mark, a large, Woodland Hills-based marketing firm that sells annuities, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for defrauding his elderly relatives out of their life savings of about $415,500, prosecutors said. Frederick Stoutland of Palm Desert had pleaded guilty to cheating an elderly cousin and his wife by promising to invest their money in annuities--investments that are popular with retirees. He was sentenced in federal court in New York. Last year, the Independent Bankers Assn. of America dropped an agreement with Fi-Mark in which the association had endorsed the marketer to sell fixed annuities to its 5,500 members.