Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog: Structured Settlements | Settlement Planning News and Commentary

JG Wentworth Competitor Einstein Structured Settlements Showcases Stupidity

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Einstein Structured Settlements' ability to do something really dumb is proven, again. Surely the brainchild of Ryan Blank and Richart Ruddie has their Owings Mills high school teachers cringing,

Einstein solicits people who have " suffered an accident with a structured settlement".

Say you collide with a structured settlement at 60 miles an hour. Like that's a bad thing?  So you dust off the "paper cut" sustained as you were propelled through "the windshield" into a lifetime of stable, income tax free bliss. Priceless! It's not like you're hitting a jackknifed water buffalo.

Then the Einstein jokers say "you can trust JG Wentworth competitor Einstein... to cash all your future money". Cash all your future money. Ain't that the half "truth"  If you cash all your future money you will never ever get all of your money. because no matter which fakakta marketing scheme the Owings Mills duo come up with they can only pay you cents on the dollar, same as JG Wentworth.

Every picture tells a story...

 

Colliding with a structured settlement isn't exactly like colliding with a jackknifed water buffalo

The Olive Branch Funding Contribution to Financial Illiteracy | Direct Settlement 8666500669

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Direct Settlement is an anonymously registered riddled with nonsense website, that displays the phone number of JG Wentworth brand Olive Branch Funding at time of publication.  The only possible financial beneficiaries of the site is Olive Branch Funding/J G Wentworth and possibly an affiliate marketer who Olive Branch/JG Wentworth pays a cut of any leads.

Nonsense 1:  It has become commonplace for lawsuits that are settled out of court to provide the award through a structured settlement via an annuity

FACT: A settlement is not an award, it's a settlement. A settlement is the result of a compromise and agreement among parties to a dispute. An award is an amount of damages given after a trial by jury, or a bench trial.

Nonsense 2: You can sell your annuity on the secondary market through an annuity broker. By using a qualified agent and following the process defined by your state, you can legally change your settlement

FACTS: 

1.Your structured settlement may be funded by an annuity but what you receive are structured settlement payments. You have no ownership rights in the annuity. You cannot sell the annuity. You can however, sell (or transfer) the structured settlement payment rights for pennies on the dollar if a judge approves the transaction in accordance with the laws of your state.

2. Representatives of settlement purchasers are typically not annuity brokers or qualified agents.  Don't be deceived. You can easily verify if someone holds an insurance in your state by Googling "(Name of Your State) verify insurance license, or insurance agent look up".  If any representative is holding themselves out as a broker or agent or agent without a verifiable license report them to me, with appropriate documentation (copies of emails, website, solicitation postcard) and I will get the information to your state regulator. Or you can do so yourself.  You would like to think you can trust these companies, but you can't when you have the likes of Annuity Sold LLC, a Maryland company associated with Ryan Blank and Richart Ruddie of Owings Mills MD and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which at one time fraudulently advertised that the company was licensed in all 50 states. Fortunately Annuity Sold was banned from doing business in Maryland for 7 years along with a slew of other Ryan Blank and Richart Ruddie related companies.

Nonsense 3: All but three states require a court to approve the sale and have a strict process. This process protects you, the seller, from unethical structured settlement purchasers.

FACTS:

The process provides zero protection from unethical structured settlement purchasers.  

Because state legislatures have left a gaping wound in the regulations that have addressed the process but have not regulated those soliciting and providing advice to sellers, state legislators have exposed their citizens to be pecked away by structured settlement secondary cash now vultures and financial rapists.

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 There is an easy fix. Regulate the "Mo-fos".  

 

 

JG Wentworth "On Life Support" as Stock Plummets 87% Today After Bankruptcy Filing

by Structured Settlement  Watchdog

The tubes have been pulled out and hospice has been called in,  JG Wentworth, the leader of a massively underegulated industry whose members profit off the unsophisticated and the ignorant,  has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in 9 years according to Philadelphia Business Journal. Yet the word smithing on its press release framed by the wallpaper of some stodgy New York City law firms uses words kindler and gentler for PR.  

It's only too bad that a figurative dose of morphine is not available for JG Wentworth investors who were ripped off by the analysts who made questionable recommendations of the stock right before it plummeted in the first of a series of capital extinguishing moves that led to JGW's delisting and became JGWE. Read my recent commentary about JG Wentworth's stock performance chart, that looks as if the company "flipped investors the bird" in 2014, just before the beginning of the company stock's tumultuous drop. JG Wentworth went public 5 years after JGW shafted  investors in a 2009 bankruptcy. 

JG Wentworth is a defendant in a class action law suit filed September 14, 2017 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania as one of the alleged participants in what was described in the complaint as an "Annuity Fraud Scheme" in which even the judges were alleged complicit.

JG Wentworth is also a defendant in a lawsuit arising out of the acquisition of Westar Mortgage. Allegations can be characterized as questioning shady dealings by JG Wentworth in an equity funded deal that was worth less almost immediately after the deal concluded when JG Wentworth stock began to tank. It has never recovered.

It should be noted that the stock rallied a penny, AFTER after this post was published to close at 3 cents!

JG Wentworth's Big "FU" to Investors Foreshadowed Shortly After IPO

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

As the chart clearly shows, JG Wentworth stock has simply been a "big FU" to investors from the very beginning in 2014. I mean really, check out the index finger and bent knuckles in 2014. Contrast JG Wentworth's market cap with the Q3 2017 average sales price for new homes in Manhattan which was $4,256,992 and median sales price was $2,797,500, according to Curbed New York. 

 

As You Can See JGWE Was a Big FU from the Beginning

 

 

 

The Curious Case of JG Wentworth | Charting "The 800lb Gorilla"

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

It is duly noted on this 22nd day of August 2017 that JG Wentwtorth (JGWE) stock chart reveals the preening proverbial 800 lb gorilla.  Such a "ham sasquatch"!

 

JGWE smiley 800 lb Gorilla  left profile

JGWE "Duh" 800 lb Gorilla Right Profile

 

Belly aching up JGWE 800 lb Gorilla "Gasping for Air" at 17 cents/share, touching an all time low of 15c earlier in the day

 

 

Negative Outlook For JG Wentworth As Downgraded to CCC- from S&P | Stock at 20 Cents

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

JG Wentworth is the market leader in the structured settlement secondary market but according to S&P Global ratings, JG Wentworth "is saddled with an untenable debt burden".

On June 26, 2017, S&P Global Ratings said lowered its issuer credit rating on J.G. Wentworth LLC (JGW) to 'CCC-' from 'CCC+'. The outlook is negative. A CCC rating represents an extremely high risk bond or investment; banks are not allowed to invest in CCC rated bonds. CCC bonds are junk bonds. JG Wentworth's credit rating is worse than Greece.

At the same time, S&P lowered its issue-level rating on the company's senior secured debt to 'CCC-' from 'CCC+'. The recovery rating remains at '4', indicating that creditors could expect 30%-40% recovery in the event of payment default. "Our rating action today reflects our opinion that a distressed debt exchange transaction, which the company publicly disclosed it was contemplating earlier this year, is likely in the next six months" said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Chris Cary. JGW's proposals indicate two scenarios: the first is the company aiming to reduce its debt to $90 million from $449 million, and thesecond is the company proposing to reduce its debt to $65 million. Both scenarios would greatly enhance the company's financial position and likely,in our view, position the company to face upcoming headwinds from both rising interest rates in its structured settlements business and expected lower refinancing volume in its mortgage business

The highlighted statement is also a clue into what motivates JG Wentworth competitor Novation Funding to use "Fire Sale" marketing featuring daily blasts about rising interest rates. As Standard & Poors suggests, rising interest rates are not good for structured settlement factoring companies and Novation Funding is out there hustling annuitants to sacrifice long term security for pennies on the dollar.

Financial Analyst Paints Pallid Complexion of JG Wentworth Stock

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

 

JG Wentworth's Not "King Kong" Any More

When it comes to 800 lb gorillas, JG Wentworth is a "Gorilla in the Missed".  I'll skip the whole "Magilla", but at 20 cents, just off a day low of 18 cents and providing little value for investors, one wonders when the fat lady will begin her aria? 

 JG Wentworth's market cap is now less than $5 million.

JG Wentworth Earnings Analysis May 26, 2017

JG Wentworth "Present Value" | At the End of The Quarter, JG Wentworth Shares at A Quarter

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

The 800 lb gorilla has had a "gastric bypass".  JG Wentworth stock (JGWE) has dropped almost 42.86% in 3 months | Down 59.8% in 1 year. The market cap is a little more than $6 million. The stock has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.

JG Wentworth Stock Price 5/19/2017

Stewie Stockdale's slides during the Q1 2017 conference call don't paint a rosy picture. For example:

EBITDA  (An approximate measure of a company's operating cash flow based on data from the company's income statement).

Q1 2016  1.7MM

Q1 2017   0.9MM

In  2016 JG Wentworth was named in a shareholder suit. Read the JG Wentworth Fraud lawsuit Complaint in Walter F. Jones b The JG Wentworth Company and Stewart Stockdale   SDNY 1:16 cv 10018JSR Download JGW Fraud Lawsuit filed by Walter Jones 12 2016

What Does JGWE Stand For?

 

 

 

 

J.G. Wentworth Sues Customer Who Kept Annuity Payment She Agreed To Sell

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

J.G. Wentworth has sued one of its clients, claiming she defaulted on a payment due to them in December 1,  2016 in the amount of $130,000.00.

The lawsuit pits J.G. Wentworth S.S.C. Limited Partnership against Joan L. Singleton of Lakewood, Ohio, in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas for failure to turn over a lump sum. In a November 1996 deal, consummated before the enactment of the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act of 2001, that begat IRC 5891, Singleton entered into a purchase agreement with Wentworth, to purchase from Joan Singleton, the right to receive certain future periodic annuity payments, in exchange for a lump sum cash payment.

Per this purchase agreement, Singleton sold to JG Wentworth the right to receive 15 monthly payments of $2,500.00 each, starting Dec. 15, 1996 and ending on Feb. 15, 1998; a $20,000.00 portion of a $37,500.00 due on June 15, 1998; one lump sum payment of $40,000.00 due on Dec. 1, 2001; one lump sum payment of $45,000.00 due on Dec. 1, 2004; one lump sum payment of $50,000.00 due on Dec. 1, 2007; one lump sum payment of $62,500.00 due on Dec. 1, 2010; one lump sum payment of $85,000.00 due on Dec. 1, 2013 and, a $130,00.00 payment due on Dec. 1, 2016.

Singleton became entitled to the payments after being named the payee of a structured settlement annuity contracts issued by Omaha Life Insurance Company. Singleton agreed to not otherwise interfere with Wentworth’s right to receive and collect the payments, or make any changes in instructions regarding their distribution.

The only payment in default is the December 1, 2016 payment of $130,000 of the total $180,000 she received from Omaha Life Insurance Company.

“Singleton is in default under the purchase agreement by virtue of the fact that she has failed to ensure Wentworth received the payments it purchased, and has wrongfully retained the $130,000.00 portion of the $180,000.00 lump sum payment due on Dec. 1, 2016”

The plaintiff seeks damages of the $130,000, plus interest and costs of suit. Should be a win for JG Wentworth.

The lawsuit is informative both about the history of structured settlement factoring and risks associated with investing in structured settlement derivatives. In those days the buyer had to rely upon the integrity of the seller to turn over payments or change the address for the mailing of payments. Since the VTTRA 2001 was signed into law by George W. Bush in January 2002, a judge must determine if the deal is in the best interest of the seller and any applicable dependents and a "qualified order" must be issued which assuming the integrity of the participants should provide comfort to all sides.   Unfortunately the structured settlement secondary market has "barfed up"  enough bile over the intervening years to fill cesspools from coast to coast.

Reference: Penn Record February 15, 2017

 

JG Wentworth Alleged in Fraud Related to WestStar Mortgage Acquisition in 2015, Says New York Law Suit

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

JG Wentworth and its co-defendants possessed material nonpublic information  regarding JG Wentworth's business, unknown to plaintiff Walter Jones, when they sold JG Wentworth stock to Jones, and misrepresented, concealed and omitted material facts regarding JG Wentworth's business in order to induce Jones to agree to close the sale and acquisition of Westar Mortgage, Inc. to JG Wentworth five days before JG Wentworth's earnings announcement on August 5, 2015. 25% of the consideration paid to Jones was in JG Wentworth stock (then symbol JGW and listed on the New York Stock Exchange). The decision to pay 25% of the consideration in JGW stock was made 3 days before the closing date, according to the Complaint.

During its quarterly earnings call the next day , JGW officers and employees revealed knowledge of material non-public information they knew but failed to disclose to Jones prior to the sale of JGW stock to Jones and the closing of the Transaction . Following the quarterly earnings announcement , the value of JGW’s stock declined sharply, eventually rendering all but worthless 25% of the agreed-to consideration paid by JGW to Jones and the other purchasers of JGW stock for their WestStar stock.

 

JGW stock then continued to plummet to the point where it was delisted from the NYSE in June 2016.  The mortgage business acquired from WestStar is the most profitable business that JGWE currently has.

 

JG Wentworth is a member of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP) and the largest buyer of structured settlement payment rights.

 

Read the JG Wentworth Fraud lawsuit Complaint in Walter F. Jones b The JG Wentworth Company and Stewart Stockdale   SDNY 1:16 cv 10018JSR

Download JGW Fraud Lawsuit filed by Walter Jones 12 2016

 

The matter was voluntarily dismissed in February 2017.