Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog: Structured Settlements | Settlement Planning News and John Darer Reviews

AIG Structured Settlement Annuitant Hosed in Huge Lump Sum Deal

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

A 21 year Long Island New York native, a New York resident who had a structured settlement with AIG's Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company,  had the guts ripped out of his structured settlement for substantially less than market value by a settlement purchaser,  in another state in another stunning case of predatory profiteering by the structured settlement secondary market.

These were the structured settlement payment rights sold:

• monthly payments of $2,500.00 each, commencing January 22, 2016 through and including October 22, 2016; and
• monthly payments of $11,689.57 each, commencing November 22, 2016 through and including October 22, 2046, increasing 3% annually each November;

TOTAL PAYMENTS SOLD  $6,678,633.83 

According to court documents obtained by the Structured Settlement Watchdog on October 30, 2015,

This about sums up getting more than one million less than you should have

the deal bore a 15.24% effective discount when the deal could have been purchased for a discount rate of more than half that and put in excess of a million dollars more in the AIG annuitant's pocket. 

The petitioner is listed as 365 Advance Services and the assignee of the payments is Novation Funding LLC, a member of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP)

The papers contained the typical disclaimer that the seller waived independent professional advice.  

Two questions that should be answered in relation this file is when and why/ at whose direction was the petition to transfer removed from the publicly accessible court record?

The petitioner for the factoring deal does not appear to be registered to do business in the state where the transfer was approved.

According to our sources, the annuitant only just obtained a driver's license in the state of the transfer petition on October 3, 2015, days AFTER the transfer petition process was started on October 1, 2015, according to court records. 

Sweet N' Sour

And Garry Sweet, the judge in question, signed the order,  la-di-da la-di-da.  Structured Settlement Protection Act?  A fiction on this showing.   How was the structured settlement factoring transaction in the seller's best interest with those parameters?   How many structured settlement transfer cases has Judge Sweet reviewed?    In how many did the annuitant appear in court? Did Cedric Martez Thomas appear in Court so the Judge Sweet could question him?

Some of the dissenters in the among settlement purchasers say that you should be able to say and do what you want if you are an adult.  If you think you're a big man and don't need some judge asking you questions, what if it was a question that could make a $1 million difference in your financial viability? 

A mandatory IPA would also have given someone pause on this for sure.  Something for the Florida legislature to think about.

Multiple settlement purchasers were made aware of this case when it was electronically filed but due to the nature of the way it was filed, with substantial portions redacted, were unable to contact the annuitant to make him aware that he could have done better,  a hell of a lot better. 

As much as some detest court scraping, supporters contend that it forces down discount rates through more competition.

More to come on this story for sure.  Meanwhile if you are in the primary market and sold a substantial VALIC structure on an infant in a New York case , with parameters close to the above during the time that VALIC was writing in New York  (approximately late 1990s early 2000s)  please contact me.

Copy of the Cedric Martez Thomas  Structured Settlement Transfer Order  Download 365 Advance Services 15.24 discount rate on immediate payout purchase 10-29-15 Okeechobee Florida

 

 

US Settlement Funding Glossary Errors on Basics Make Case for Licensing

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

One of the purposes of licensing is to help assure that those that practice a profession possess a fundamental body of knowledge before being legally permitted to solicit consumers.   The individuals and companies that solicit consumers to sell their structured settlement payments for a discounted lump sum of cash are currently immune from licensing and a regulated fundamental body of knowledge,  for an unexplained reason.  In my opinion and a growing body of others this must change.

US Settlement Funding, a company registered in California, associated with cash now for structured settlement troll Kyle Forster, a young gent whose phone number can be found on "complaints" for US Settlement Funding competitors  on Rip Off Report and Pissed Consumer,  has a glossary on it website that is deserving of  this critique:

A. Fixed Annuity 

USSF An annuity that pays the investor a fixed about (sic) of income.

Why USSF is Wrong Maybe the person who wrote the glossary for USSG "had a stuffy nose" that day!  A fixed annuity could have multiple definitions.  "Fixed" could refer to payments or rate of interest.  On the one hand it could be (1)  a type of insurance contract issued by a life insurance that provides for payment to the annuitant in fixed installments;  it could be (2) an annuity that bears a fixed rate of interest; it could be (3) an annuity that is tied to a index, such as a " fixed index annuity". In this case the amount of income may be adjusted in accordance with the performance of the index.

B. Guaranteed Payments  

USSF Payments made under an annuity contract that are guaranteed to be made even if the payee is living or not.  

Why USSF is Wrong:  Guaranteed or certain payment under an annuity contract are those payments that will be paid whether or not the payee survives the entire payment schedule  (whether or not the payee is living)

C. Immediate Annuity

USSF: These are annuities whereby the annuity issuer will begin making
payments either at least one year out or immediately to the payee.

Why USSF is Wrong: IRC 72(u)(4) states that the term “immediate annuity” means an annuity—

1. which is purchased with a single premium or annuity consideration,
2. the annuity starting date (as defined in subsection (c)(4) of which commences no later than 1 year from the date of the purchase of the annuity, and
3. which provides for a series of substantially equal periodic payments (to be made not less frequently than annually) during the annuity period.

 D. Liquidity

USSG:The ability to sell an asset quickly with little or no loss in value

Why USSF is Wrong:  Liquidity the ability to be converted into cash.  The service that USSG sells, is guaranteed to result in a loss in value in exchange for your financial asset  (your structured settlement payment rights)

E. Qualified Assignment

USSF: This is a legal assignment of the obligation to make future payments according to a structured settlement that satisfy the requirements of  Internal Revenue Code for favorable tax treatment of a structured settlement.

Why USSF is Wrong:  A qualified assignment is the transfer of a legal obligation to make future periodic payments payable as damages under a suit or agreement that satisfies the requirements of IRC 130.  The tax treatment of future periodic payments to the payee is a function of the type of damages. A structured settlement does not have to be set up with a qualified assignment.  Buy and hold structured settlements and the use of periodic payment reinsurance do not involve qualified assignments.

F. Structured Settlement Annuity

USSF:   A special annuity that is set up as consideration for the settlement of a lawsuit.

Why USSF is Wrong:  A structured settlement annuity IS NOT simply the consideration for the settlement of a lawsuit.   A structured settlement annuity is a type of customizable annuity that includes both immediate and deferred components.  Elements of a contract include an offer, acceptance and consideration.  In those lawsuit settlements that includes a structured settlement, the consideration will include cash as well as a promise to make future periodic payments.  The future periodic payments may be funded with a structured settlement annuity as a so-called " qualified funding asset"

W-9 Form

USSF: A tax form for the United States which certifies an individual’s taxpayer identification number.

Why USSF is Wrong A W-9 form is a request for Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)  from the IRS.  It is the taxpayer who/which is certifying TIN on the form. not the form doing the certifying :-) . The form  W-9 can be used by a tax payer to certify TIN for an individual, various forms of business entity or a trust/estate.Under penalties of perjury, the person signing the W-9 certifies that:

1. The number shown on the W-9 is the taxpayer's correct taxpayer identification number (or taxpayer is waiting for a number to be issued to him/her or it); and
2. Taxpayer is not subject to backup withholding because: (a) He/she/it is exempt from backup withholding, or (b) He/she/it has not been notified by the Internal Revenue
3. Service (IRS) that he/she or it is subject to backup withholding as a result of a failure to report all interest or dividends, or (c) the IRS has notified me that he/she or it is no longer subject to backup withholding; and
4. He/she or it is a U.S. citizen or other U.S. person; and
5. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) code(s) entered on the W-9 form (if any) indicating that  he/she/it isexempt from FATCA reporting is correct

National Settlement Registry | Seneca One Expands on Madness

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Seneca One Finance has pushed the envelope by expanding on its highly misleading marketing stunt called "Structured Settlement Registry"

Google the definition of registry this is what comes up 

reg·is·try

ˈrejəstrē

noun

noun: registry; plural noun: registries

1. 1.

   a place or office where registers or records are kept.

   • an official list or register.

     "a recognized purebred dog registry"
2. 2.

   registration.

Seneca One Finance is not an official list or register. 

It is a for profit entity,  that as a member of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers, .purports to uphold NASP's advertised standards.

Seneca One now promotes a National Settlement Registry

National Settlement Registry appears to be a Seneca One's database beacon.  Read closely and see that it isn't a government agency, it's a subsidiary of Seneca One,  How exclusive a "registry" is it Seneca One has to pay you to join?

I've laughed at all the Who's Who "Registries",  with more bastardizations than New York Ray's Pizza, that approach you with feigned snootiness about how you've been "handpicked to appear" and "by the way a leather bound copy to showcase your achievements...." will cost some unfortunate sucker $1,500.  Then you see people putting in their bios that they are listed in Who's Who. It's a riot.

So The National Settlement Registry offers you a $100 so that it can stuff its database with your details so that at some time in the not too distant future you can receive mailing or phone calls from Seneca One.  Whats exclusive about that?

And the structured settlement secondary market is enabled to engage in this behavior that would likely not be permitted in any other financial profession,  solely because there is no regulation of its participants.

And that Congressmen Elijah Cummings,  Chris Van Hohlen, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and company,  is what I'm talking about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WBAL News Radio Is "Lead Paint Weak" on Structured Settlements

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Lang Didn't Do His Homework

Oh dear! Rob Lang of WBAL News Radio has REALLY screwed it all up about structured settlements in his interview of Ruth Ann Norton, CEO of Green and Healthy Homes Initiative on Maryland's News This Week with Lang's stunning inaccuracies about structured settlements show Lang didn't do his homework PRIOR to conducting the Norton interview. The Norton interview, which you can listen to below, was published October 26, 2015.

Lang's Clang-ers

1. " victims may be victimized again by companies that promise structured settlements"  [ interview at 0:23]

The real story: Actually the story is about companies that purchase structured settlement payment rights from lead paint poisoned people who already are receiving payments.

2."  instead of giving these people a payment once , these structured settlement companies will buy the settlement and give them periodic monthly payments or annual payments I guess" [ interview at 4:26]

The real story:  Settlement purchasers buy structured settlement payment rights from annuitants who are already receiving structured settlement payments. Structured settlements come about as the result of a compromise and parties to a structured settlement are both represented by lawyers. Minors or incompetents must have the approval of a judge before a structured settlement can be established.  Robert Lang's explanation, by his own admission is a "guess" and he guessed wrong.

A modicum of preparation on the part of Robert Lang and WBAL News Radio would have made for more accurate reporting.

Baltimore Structured Settlement Forum To Address Factoring in Maryland

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Washington Post's Terry McCoy reported that Access Funding, a Bethesda-based cash now pusher, purchased structured settlement payments worth $146,000 from Freddie Gray for “around $18,300.”   Yes, THAT Freddie Gray. The story went on to detail the the Access Funding business model, which it said included purchasing structured settlements awarded to Baltimore residents who have suffered from lead paint exposure at steep discounts and typically seeking the required court approval from a single judge in Prince George’s county  (as opposed to Baltimore City)

Today October 26, 2015, there is a public structured settlement forum on the subject taking place at the University of Baltimore John and Frances Angelos Law Center Moot Court Room – Room 008  1401 N.Charles Street Baltimore, MD from 3-5pm EDT.

University of Baltimore
John and Frances Angelos Law Center
Moot Court Room – Room 008
1401 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD - See more at: http://www.greenandhealthyhomes.org/latest-events#structured-settlements-forum

During today's structured settlement forum, Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin and Maryland State Delegate Sandy Rosenberg will hear directly from Amanda Lane, whose family has been aggressively pursued by structured settlement purchasers. Ms. Lane’s daughter was awarded a structured settlement as a result of lead paint exposure, and she will speak to the business practices of companies seeking to purchase payments from her daughter’s settlement. Also joining Ms. Lane will be Ruth Ann Norton, President and CEO, GHHI; Elizabeth Embry, Chief, Criminal Division, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Maryland; and Eric Vaughn, Executive Director, National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA) to discuss shortcomings in existing law that leave structured settlement recipients vulnerable to predatory business practices.

Factoring Reforms that do not provide prophylaxis to address business conduct will fall short

Participants in the structured settlement secondary market should be subject to a licensing and regulatory standard on par with other financial professions, including life settlements.  Individuals with felonies on their records should not be permitted to participate in the structured settlement marketplace.  The structured settlement secondary market has been allowed through legislative oversight, to operate without a regulator to set standards, including rules of conduct and solicitation of the public.

Nobody, I repeat nobody currently has the power to fine, suspend or revoke authority to transact business. The status quo is outrageous.

 

A Felony on Your Record is No Bar to Working for a Structured Settlement Buyer

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

While the laws differ from state to state, there are many professions for which state or federal law restricts individuals from working if they have a felony conviction:

• Members of the securities industry
• Insurance brokers
• Members of the retail banking industry 
• Medical doctors and other workers in the health care field
• Accountants
• Lawyers
• Fiduciaries for trusts
• Real estate brokers and salespersons
• Architects
• Psychologists
• Teachers
• School administrators

See 15 U.S.C. § 78c(a)(39) (securities industry); 15 U.S.C. § 78o-3(g)(2) (securities industry); 18 U.S.C. § 1033(c)(2) (insurance industry); 12 U.S.C. § 1829 (association with FDIC insured banks); 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7 (medical field); 21 U.S.C. § 335a (generic drug industry); CGS § 20-281a (accountants); NY Surr. Ct. Prod. Act Law §707(1)(d) (fiduciaries); NY Real Prop. Law § 440-a (real estate); CGS §§ 20-316, 20-320 (real estate); CGS § 20-294 (architects); CGS § 20-192 (psychologists); CGS § 10-145b(m)(1) (teachers or school administrators). Many of these regulations prohibit work in industries only if a person is convicted for specifically enumerated crimes, rather than any felony. 

Because it is unregulated there is no such bar of felons in the structured settlement secondary market

• A convicted felon, Todd Dyer, with jail time for a Ponzi scheme  has been involved in a so called structured settlement exchange, which solicits both sellers and investors. Dyer still owes significant restitution  according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• A felon associated with interstate travel fraud and as of this summer still owes over $3 million in restitution is believed to be currently associated with a Florida company that buys structured settlement payments rights in a customer facing position.  The same individual was required to complete significant drug treatment as part of his sentence.
• And a child molester, who molested his step child and moved to another state,  is believed to currently work for a factoring company and is believed to be in a customer facing position for a structured settlement buyer. 

I would like to point out that none of the individuals characterized above are members of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP)

• It's bad enough that there are no laws currently requiring buyers and intermediaries in structured settlement payment rights be licensed.
• It is bad enough that there is no regulator with the power to fine, suspend or revoke a business license,
• BUT a felon could be pitching you in your living room.

 

Structured Settlement Buyers With Non-Competes Engaging In Deceptive Conduct

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

I was watching a CSI-Miami rerun the other night in which a perp with diplomatic immunity, suspected of murder,  hawks up a big "loogie" onto Horatio Caine's jacket, to which Caine cooly replies " Thank you", followed by a swab into the confluence of snot and saliva, for a sample of DNA.   Here's what a Florida lump sum for structured settlement company and its minions have hawked up...

I've begun an investigation into a particular lump sum for structured settlement purchaser that employs former employees of competing settlement purchasers who are locked into a non-compete.

According to our source, what this lump sum for structured settlement company does is hire these people who are supposed to be "on gardening leave" and allow them to use an entirely fake names on the phone, thus deceiving the clients right from initial contact.  

The lack of transparency and the deceptive conduct towards consumers is not a shock in an unregulated industry whose "cess pool of bad business conduct" fills by the day

If you are using a fake name or you are a company in the settlement purchasing industry that engaging in the contact of using fake names, sooner or later both the companies and the individuals are going to be exposed. 

 

 

Amazon and Others Targeting Those Who Make Fake Testimonials

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

A new lawsuit in which Amazon accuses more than 1,000 people of offering to post bogus glowing write-ups for as little as $5 apiece might give you pause.   The lawsuit was filed in state court in Washington last week and attacks the commissioning of paid, fake reviews that masquerade as testimonials from ordinary people.

Amazon's legal counteroffensive is an aggressive attempt by a major U.S. e-commerce company to fight back.

Its lawsuit alleges that individuals would write five-star reviews about products they never even tried, and plotted with product makers to subvert Amazon safeguards that are meant to bolster confidence in the website's reviews.

About 45 percent of consumers consider product reviews when weighing an online purchase, according to Forrester Research and Two-thirds of shoppers trust consumer opinions online, according to research by Nielsen.  The AP opines that a restaurateur might be tempted to pay say $250 for 50 positive reviews online in the hopes of raising that a Yelp rating to secure another booking. The practice is known as "astroturfing" after the fake stuff on your local ballfield.

Here are some examples of how fake or paid reviews have been used to promote companies that buy structured settlements, or brokers for investors that buy structured settlements:

• Einstein Structured Settlements/  JRR Funding  used BuyTestimonials.com and Fiverr.com  Fairfield Funding was the beneficiary of leads from Einstein Structured Settlements as JRR/Einstein was promoting itself using the fake testimonials.
• David Springer/Sovereign Funding Group of Mt. Airy, MD used Fiverr.com and other paid video testimonial services.  In one of the Fiverr.com ads that was shown at David Springer's August 2014 trial in Maryland Federal Court by attorneys for Woodbridge Structured Funding, David Springer was not only given a fake positive, but fraudulently promoted as a lawyer by a $5 character called Old Bitty Grandma who referred to all other lawyers as crooks.  Here's another fraudulent Sovereign Funding ad featuring a British Fiverr actress nicknamed Kymmypops. I even discovered that a Florida based SEO specialist who worked with David Springer from 2011-2012 used a paid Fiverr.com testimonial to promote his/her business using Fiverr actor Greg Sheppard that is still online. [Springer, The Mt Airy Faker, was further exposed in 2016 after Springer posted a Rip Off Report complaining about a Romanian bot program Traffic Bots, that he paid $3,000 to aid in posting fake traffic, comments and posts  on YouTube, Facebook and other websites]
  
• Genex Capital has been promoted over and over using fake testimonials and social media roadkill as reported here, and here, including 191 spam comments.  One notable shameless self promotional stunt involved (1) a  November 2013 press release announcing Assured Annuity.com the retail arm of Genex Capital and (2) two weeks later, another press release announcing that AssuredAnnuity.com was a new "Certified Funder" for  Structuredsettlement-quotes.com (SSQ) which was played as an independent business.  The press release,  in Reuters no less,  says "When asked about the new partnership, Genex Capital's CEO, Roger Proctor, answered, "This is a win-win for everyone. I'm very enthusiastic to be working with SSQ". As the result Q2 2015 settlement in the Woodbridge Structured Funding lawsuit against Genex, SSQ and Genex Strategies, Inc., Genex was forced to disclose that SSQ was part of the Genex Capital Group.Genex Capital was made a member of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers  (NASP) at a time it it was being promoted by this activity. It is no longer a member.
• US Settlement Funding's Kyle Forster's telephone number can be found on rip off report, pissed consumer and other complaint sites trolling for business with dubious complaints or comment spam on dubious complaints.
• Michael Davis, same method of operation as Kyle Forster. Dubious complaints on complaint sites and comment spam to promote his business.

TripAdvisor says it has a team of 300 people using fraud detection techniques to weed out fake reviews.

"In the first half of 2015 alone we took action against 29 different optimization companies around the world to put a stop to their activity," said spokesman Kevin Carter in the AP story    .

Gartner Group estimates that 10 to 15 percent of all online reviews are fake.  The AP reports that in 2013, the New York attorney general's office said it had settled cases with 19 companies and secured $350,000 in penalties for fake reviews.

In April 2015, Amazon sued several websites that offered to produce positive reviews. Now it's targeting the actual writers of the reviews — in this case, those who have accounts at the aformentioned Fiverr.com, a site for freelancers looking for work.

In many cases, the writers ask product sellers themselves to write the review, and then they put their name on it, the Amazon lawsuit alleges. At least one would-be reviewer offered to receive an empty envelope from a seller to make it look as if the person had actually bought the product, according to the lawsuit.

The defendants in the lawsuit are identified only by their online handles. Amazon is still working to determine their real names.

Amazon is suing for unspecified damages and an order forcing the users to stop writing fake reviews. The Seattle company said the offenders are liable for breach of contract for violating Amazon's terms of service.

"You never know until the product actually comes to you if a review is real or not," she said. "Online shopping is a leap of faith."

DRB Capital Chief | Settlement Purchasers Are Structured Settlement "Police" Debunked

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

n January 2000, while at Peachtree Settlement Funding,  DRB Capital Chief Jim Terlizzi characterized settlement purchasers as the "police" in a Business Insurance article entitled "Exposing Structured Settlement Scams".  The only thing I see in common between "The Fuzz" and Chief of DRB Capital is the ZZ at the fanny end of each. Time has proven that Terlizzi's claims weren't worth the paper that they were written on.

Terlizzi incredibly characterized structured settlements , which are funded with regulated insurance products,  issued by licensed insurance companies and placed by licensed agents or brokers, as a three card Monte game at a time that his "police" weren't required to carry a badge and there was no "Internal Affairs Bureau. His Peachtree charged some of the highest discount rates around. Here is my podcast "Structured Settlement Scam Hoax", my response to "ZZ" top Terlizzi's "Tube Snake Boogie" and other scam-mongers in the structured settlement secondary market.

 

None of Terlizzi's "Three Card Monte players" have been the subject of a Washington Post cover story. 15 years on members of the settlement purchasers'  "police" squad are reeling from contemporary allegations of bad business conduct that I have cataloged here and has been reported elsewhere.  The subject of the sub-industry's bad business conduct has been a hot topic at recent meetings of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers, an admission.  Prior to Terlizzi's arrival at DRB Capital, DRB Capital misrepresented a stock photo as one of its customers.

You may also be interested in this

A contemporaneous response to Jim Terlizzi's outrageous 2000 piece,  by the late esteemed Chicago trial lawyer Philip Corboy, referred to Terlizzi's industry as "a new breed of aggressive hucksters", a term later echoed by Texas trial lawyer Joseph Jamail in 2008.  Netti C. Vogel, a judge in Rhode Island later referred to them as vultures, a flesh ripping scavenger moniker that has stuck, to the chagrin of players in the settlement purchasing industry that try to do things right.

 

Maryland Structured Settlement Protection Reform | "A Pain in the NASP"

by Structured Settlement Watchdog® 

Maryland's Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure has approved structured settlement factoring reforms that are making the settlement purchasing industry cranky.

Highlights of the approved structured settlement protection reforms include that

• All structured settlement transfer petitions to be filed in the residing jurisdiction of the payees,
• Payees now must attend court hearings to help the judge decide whether the proposed deal is in their best interest.
• Companies must now say whether the underlying case involved any claim of lead paint poisoning or “mental or cognitive impairment.”
• Independent professional advisers — who counsel payees about the (structured settlement payments for cash) deals’ implications — must now appear at the hearings, divulge how frequently they’ve done business with the settlement purchasing companies and detail their investigation into the seller’s mental capacity.

In a letter to the Baltimore Sun, Easl S.Nesbitt, the Executive Vice President of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers opines (1) that such reforms are excessive, laying the blame on a single company, Access Funding.Access Funding was the focal point of blame in the Baltimore Lead Paint settlement "Blacksploitation" exposed by the Washington Post in August;  (2) that all bad conduct in the structured settlement secondary market is the work of companies which are not members of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers.

In advocating for the members of NASP,  Nesbitt selectively ignores allegations of bad business conduct by NASP members upon structured settlement annuitants and by NASP members on other NASP members.    He offers no solutions.

When it comes to the State of Maryland , Access Funding is not the only actor in the structured settlement secondary market that has engaged in questionable business conduct. In addition to Access Funding there is/was

A. Sovereign Funding Group, David Springer of Mount Airy, MD  Woodbridge Structured Funding, LLC vs David Springer  Civil Action 1:11-cv-03421-MJG, where there was a judicial finding that David Springer was:

• Falsely claiming that Sovereign was a corporation.
• Misrepresenting (in various contexts, including sites such as Facebook and
  LinkedIn and to the Better Business Bureau) Sovereign as a corporation, and misrepresenting as real persons who were officers of Sovereign, fictitious persons created by Springer.
• Falsely claiming that Sovereign itself was a purchaser of structured settlements rather than merely a broker.
• Utilizing the website with the address www.webuypayments.net and other websites anonymously connected to it to redirect Internet inquiries intended for competitors to the Sovereign website.  [ in the footnote the court acknowledged that David Springer denied that he owned or controlled the websites utilized in Internet redirects to webuypayments.net. The registrations of these domains are “private” and anonymous. However, based upon its evaluation of Springer’s testimony and the fact that the beneficiary of the redirects was Springer, the Court finds that Springer owned, or at least controlled, these websites

Ironically Elyce Strickland, a lawyer engaged by David Springer, for his defense from mid-2013 to January 2014, and was recently quoted by the Washington Post concerning the reasons that transfer petitions might be submitted with initials, raised the question of NASP membership in her deposition of a Woodbridge employee in July 2013. The irony was that David Springer was not a member of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers.

B. Einstein Structured Settlements/ Edison Settlements, Greenspring Funding, AnnuitySold.Com, brands associated JRR Funding and Owings Mills natives Richart Ruddie and Ryan Blank

Documented that conduct associated with one or more of these brands has included

• Fake/paid for consumer facing testimonials
• Fake academic credentials
• Fake settlement planning and structured settlement sale seminars in commercial publications
• Misuse of of Better Business Bureau Accredited Business seal
• Scraping of court records as a business strategy
• False and misleading advertising that it is licensed and qualified to purchase in every state.

Upon information and belief, JRR Funding and/or one or more Ryan Blank/Richart Ruddie entities has provided services to members of NASP as well as non-members

If these examples are not enough to give one pause, one only need to follow filed court cases in state and federal courts, or look to the websites of companies in the settlement purchasing industry where allegations of bad conduct is on display. One company even refers to other companies in the industry as zombies. If everything were wholesome, why would that be?

To his credit, Nesbitt agrees that Maryland's Judiciary Review Committee should pursue a solution that both protects consumers, including their right to privacy, and maintains the flexibility the structured settlement purchasing industry provides.

As I wrote in my October 10 post, the Maryland Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, is a great first important step.  Lawmakers must pass reforms to establish licensing/registration,  establish rules of business conduct, appoint a regulator, or expand the powers of an existing regulator who can oversee business conduct and have the power to fine suspend or revoke business authority for violations of the law.