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July 07, 2019

Buffalo Settlement Firm Comes Out Swinging Every Way The Crow Fly

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Buffalo structured settlement industry colleagues at Milestone have come out almost all the way to announce their structured settlement factoring business,

As the crow flies
As the crow flies

CrowFly LLC, renamed October 4, 2018 from Structured Settlement Exchange, LLC and operating at 737 Main Street, Suite 100 address in Buffalo, same as Milestone.  Last October John Bair sent an email to someone in the factoring business that to his knowledge they were the only primary market as well as factoring origination firm.

The business is legal but raises questions over potential conflicts of interest and is an in your face challenge to those life insurance companies issuing structured settlement annuities that contract Milestone. As previously reported I have attempted to address these potential conflicts with then

The CrowFly trademark application filed with the USPTO describes its services as:

"Providing an on-line virtual marketplace for buyers and sellers of structured settlements and annuities; information, advisory and consultancy services relating to the aforesaid services

Financial factoring services to businesses and individuals, namely, by purchasing of deferred streams of payment in the nature of structured settlement and annuity payment rights; financial factoring services to businesses and individuals, namely, by purchasing of deferred streams of payment and receivables, namely, interests in the nature of anticipated proceeds or fees resulting from legal claims for the purpose of pre-settlement and litigat...

Computer services, namely, creating and managing an on-line virtual environment for buyers and sellers of structured settlements and annuities; information, advisory and consultancy services relating to the aforesaid services

Tweets published as Crowfly July 2, 2019 all link to Milestone Examiner posts by Milestone CEO John Bair in the last 12 months. One of them pitched accredited investors with "the opportunity to buy a structured settlement annuity".

But accredited investors are NOT buying an existing structured settlement annuity because the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which knows something about what an annuity is, opined in Statutory Issue Paper 160 that factored structured settlement payment streams are neither annuities nor insurance products.   Furthermore, Milestone and its principal (the latter someone with an New York insurance license for over 25 years ) know that structured settlement annuities are owned by the qualified assignment company in most cases and remained owned by the qualified assignment company even if the payment rights are transferred to a buyer. Why is money being solicited from CrowFly LLC investors with the inaccurate sales pitch that they are actually buying a structured settlement annuity?  

 

Posted at 11:58 PM in Buffalo Structured Settlement Factoring, Buffalo Structured Settlement Investments, Secondary Market Annuities | Not Annuities | Don't Be Fooled, Structured Settlement Investments, Structured Settlement Payment Rights, Structured Settlement Watchdog® |

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Guide to Structured Settlements 2024

  • What is a Structured Settlement? What You Need to Know
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  • Rated Ages and Structured Settlement Cost
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    Which life insurance companies issue structured settlement annuities in 2024? A list of current structured annuity issuers, the location of their home offices and their financial ratings from A.M. Best, Moodys, Fitch, Standard & Poors and/or other Tier1 NAIC ratings, with links to their websites and other useful information. Last updated June 14, 2024
  • Treasury Funded Structured Settlements
    Treasury Funded Structured Settlements are a settlement option for the most conservative using the OTHER permissible qualified funding asset under IRC 130(d), United States Treasury Bonds in addition to, or instead of, structured settlement annuities. Treasury Funded Structured Settlements can also be used to fund installment sales, also known as structured sales and other non qualified structured settlements.
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    Use the Taxable Equivalent Yield chart to help compare the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of a structured settlement to other alternative or complementary investments. Need help with the chart? Call 4structures.com® LLC at 888-325-8640
  • Structured Settlement Payments | Types of Structured Settlements 2024
    Ways You Can Structure Your Settlement Payments in 2024. With a structured settlement you can have more than one type of payment in a single contract. Different types of structured settlement payments can be customized and combined to meet your needs on a stand-alone basis, or in conjunction with other financial products. Diversify your structured settlement, if you wish, by funding with more than one annuity issuer, with treasury funded structured settlements, index linked structured settlement payments and market based structured .
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    Structured attorney fees is a financial strategy that offers a unique way to defer taxes for lawyers and law firms. Lawyers CAN structure their legal fees even if the plaintiff doesn't structure their settlement. There are multiple ways to structure your attorney fees, such as capped or uncapped index linked structured settlement annuities where payments are adjusted based on upside changes in the S&P 500 or another index, Trial Lawyers may also use a special deferred pay/deferred compensation arrangement, if market based returns returns are desired with no cap. Plan NOW for year end! Put structured attorney fee expert John Darer® on your settlement planning team in 2024.
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    Receiving structured settlement payments from your own structured settlement or inherited structured settlement? You'll like this huge time saver. Click the title for a link to a comprehensive list of customer service telephone numbers that includes both current AND former structured settlement annuity issuers and reinsurers. If you have simple bank or beneficiary changes, or if the insurance company that issued the structured annuity has merged, sold or spun off its block of structured annuity business (e.g. Aviva, Allstate, Transamerica, AEGON, GE Capital, Liberty, CNA, Confederation Life), oran annuity issuer has changed its name and you're trying to track them down. Here you go! The list is regularly updated. Last updated May 20, 2024.
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  • What Are Structured Settlement Annuities?
    Structured settlement annuities are annuities that can provide one or more customized annuity payment streams in a single contract. Read about structured settlement annuities here.
  • History of Structured Settlements
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  • What Are Market Based Structured Settlements?
    Market based structured settlements are an alternative or supplementary structured settlement solution for the plaintiff, attorney or law firm that: 1. Can afford to take some market risk 2. Have discretionary settlement dollars. Claimants and attorneys alike may find that market-based structured settlements provide the opportunity to receive tax-free income, or tax-deferred income, while enjoying growth potential.
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Qualified Settlement Funds

  • What is a Qualified Settlement Fund?
    Qualified Settlement Funds | What You Need to Know
  • Firmwide Qualified Settlement Funds Debunked
    Firmwide qualified settlement funds have been heavily promoted to trial lawyers, but have been debunked in a detailed analysis in a July 2022 legal opinion a tax partner at the law firm of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP. Trial lawyers and firms who have established Firmwide QSFs or coinsidering establishing a Firmwide QSF should read the analysis as part of their evaluation.

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