Explosive Seneca One Lawsuit v US Annuity Services Should Give State Judges and SMA Investors Pause

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

An explosive new lawsuit filed in Maryland on September 1, 2017 gaslights questions on the risk profile of so called secondary market annuities or SMAs, a scam label for structured settlement derivative investments. The lawsuit filed by Seneca One Finance against US Annuity Services contains blistering allegations which, if true, should give state judges, attorneys general and the the legislators of structured settlement protection acts pause.

The structured settlement factoring industry is already reeling from two massive occurrences of forgery, one involving a former paralegal at a New York City personal injury law firm and another featuring a now disbarred and convicted Miami lawyer for settlement purchasing companies.

Now this...

Seneca One Finance , Inc. v Jeremy Wright and US Annuity Services, LLC and John Does 1-5*  Circuit Court Montgomery County MD Case 436464V

According to the Complaint in the Seneca One lawsuit against Jeremy Wright and Frederick, MD based US Annuity Services, among the allegations:

• USAS made a practice of having statutory disclosures signed at the same time as structured settlement transfer agreements and backdating the disclosure statements to make it appear as if the disclosure statement was prepared and delivered prior to the transfer agreement  [Complaint at 61 p 14]
  
• At least one USAS employee has created fake documentation about an annuitant's income in an effort to mislead a court into believing that the annuitant had other monthly income, thus increasing the chance that the transaction is approved [64 p 14]
• At least one USAS employee has altered a signed contract with an annuitant without the annuitant's permission  [ 66 p 15]
• Upon information and belief at least one USAS employee has paid a third party to pose as  a particular annuitant and falsely testify in court that she was the annuitant. [67 p 15]
• On more than one occasion USAS has created fake cancellation letters that were filed with the court in furtherance of cancelling an assignment transaction that on of USAS's  competitors had pending.  Upon information and belief, these cancellations were not signed by the customer, but rather contained a signature and notary stamp that were copied and pasted from another document that was executed by the customer.  [65 p15]
• USAS fraudulently used its affiliated entities to mislead consumers into believing that USAS entities were unaffiliated competitors competing for the consumers' business. USAS then fraudulently shepherded consumers to one of the affiliated entities with representation that the entity to whom the consumer was shepherded was  a more worthy competitor. [199 p36]
• USAS doctors, forges, or otherwise alters documents in an effort to evade industry regulations and expedite the process of funding assignment transactions  (structured settlement factoring transactions)  [201 p36]
• USAS creates fake documents in an effort to evade industry regulations, interfere with competitor's deals and expedite the process of funding assignment transactions (structured settlement factoring transactions) [ 202 p 36]
• USAS employees conceal their identities from potential customers through the use of aliases [203 p 36]  This prevents the potential customer from knowing who they are actually dealing with and hides any potential red flags that may exist. A criminal background check of at least one USAS employee would reveal enough information to give many potential customers pause. [48p 12]
• USAS often engages in forum shopping by filing a petition in a favorable jurisdiction where the customer does not reside. The forum shopping is done county by county and state by state. By engaging in forum shopping USAS avoids certain state (structured settlement protection) statutes and other regulations on the transfer of certain payment streams [56 and 57 p 13]
• Forum shopping a plaintiff to another jurisdiction after a judge in Cook County denied a petition for a woman with pending felony matter and from whom the judge wanted to see a 6 month proof of sobriety before approving the transfer. The ironically named Wise County Texas judge approved the transfer.
• Misrepresentations by Jeremy Wright in marketing materials and his LinkedIn profile as to his purported role in the founding of Seneca One.

Seneca One also names Brent Gardner, Corey Cannell, Stoney Morris and Chris Noblejas.

Have you invested in "Secondary Market Annuities" from ANY source of SMA Investments that were originated by US Annuity Services?

• You should certainly be following the outcome of the litigation. Perhaps it's time to do an audit.
• An structured settlement transfer order procured by fraud could lead to a vacated order if it is determined that the transaction failed to comply with the relevant structured settlement protection act. Check your paperwork. 
• If you have "vacated court order insurance" be aware that the policy has exclusions.

State Structured Settlement Protection Acts

• State attorneys general should monitor this case to see what proofs are supplied.
• Licensing or registration should be mandatory. Only licensed or registered individuals should be permitted to speak with consumers. Apparently this was brought to the State of Maryland and rejected.  How about now?

With Halloween on the horizon, it's "trick or treat for unique stuff" in the structured settlement secondary market. Unfortunately the deception is not so unique.