by Structured Settlement Watchdog
"Tax Implications of Selling Structured Settlement Payments, by Elaine Silvestrini is yet another example of where a staff writer at Annuity.org has attempted to tackle structured settlements and failed miserably.
If one reads the title Tax Implications of Selling Structured Settlement Payments one would expect to get a clear answer. But Elaine Silvestrini never even answers the question. Instead she devotes and droned on with a lot of stuff that is totally irrelevant to the title of the page. Elaine Silvestrini's work is totally useless to anyone seeking to learn the "tax implications of selling structured settlement payments". For example Elaine refers to 1035 Exchanges which have nothing to do with structured settlements or transfers of structured settlement payment rights.
Elaine Silvestrini has been around the block as a journalist. But Elaine Silvestrini has no professional credentials relevant to structured settlements or taxation and it shows. Elaine's bio on Annuity.org states she has been a professional journalist for more than 25 years and "she understands that through her work, she is a surrogate for her readers. Annuity.org says Elaine "is asking the questions and finding the information they need and presenting it clearly and simply". A review of her cited sources demonstrate a high level of subject matter cluelessness. None of the cited sources help in answer the question of the " tax implications of selling structured settlement payments".
Elaine Silvestrini has won numerous awards, including several for her investigation into tax refund fraud in Tampa, Florida. Among the accolades for that work was a first place award from the Florida Society of News Editors for community leadership among Florida’s largest newspapers. Some of that work involved helping victims of identity theft whose information was being used by criminals to steal from the government. Her LinkedIn profile states she is a former journalist and about to start new position at digital marketer Launch That, Orlando, as legal/medical writer for web. Launch That's Senior Marketing Director is Ronnie Zelek who has also been associated with Annuity.org
What Elaine Silvestrini might have found if she actually did some relevant research
On May 1, 2009 the IRS issued Private Letter Ruling 200918001 to Symetra, in response to a request for a ruling from Symetra as to whether payments it will make to Claimant pursuant to a structured settlement factoring transaction described in § 5891(b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code are subject to the information reporting requirements of § 6041. It's a valuable bread crumb for journalists that aren't lazy. See my post of May 7, 2009 here
Who Benefits from Annuity.org's useless information?
The only beneficiary of any of the useless information produced by Annuity.org is CBC Settlement Funding of Conshohocken, PA and sponsor of misinformation overs several lead generation verticals. CBC Settlement Funding, also a sponsor and sole beneficiary of some of the most predatory advertising in the structured settlement secondary market, is owned by CBC Holdings LLC, a Delaware company. The 8-K lists 600 Partners LLC as the Sole Member and Steven W. Pasko as the managing member of the Sole Member. Steven W. Pasko is a Wharton MBA who is the CEO of Sutton Park Capital. Pasko didn't get to be an Wharton MBA by being mediocre, Why Steve Pasko tolerates the mediocrity on display every day at Annuity.org is a question that begs an answer.
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