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Attorney Fee Deferral in a Settlement Planning Context For Trial Lawyers

by John Darer® CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT® RSP CLTC

What is Attorney Fee Deferral?

Attorney fee deferral is a financial planning strategy in which a lawyer or law firm's contingency fees are paid over time based on an agreed schedule. Taxes are paid when payments are received.

An attorney fee deferral can be effectuated in a number of ways such as

• Structured attorney fees, funded by a fixed structured settlement annuity issued by a licensed insurer
• Structured attorney fees through with index linked periodic payment adjustments, issued by a licensed insurer.  More here
• Structured attorney fees through future payments
• Attorney fee deferral through a deferred compensation program adapted for contingency fee lawyers using the same platform used by many Fortune 500 executives. that permits a market adjusted approach as well as unique flexibility and liquidity

Why consider attorney fee deferral?

• Stable income. income smoothing may be helpful to lawyers whose revenues are cyclical. Attorney fee deferrals through one or more of the above methods, can provide you with a predictable source of income either way.
• Supplement for your retirement plans. Attorney fee deferrals augment your retirement security, similar to traditional qualified retirement programs and IRAs, without contribution limits , or penalties if you receive payment prior to age 59 1/2 or after don' take out enough after age 70 1/2.
• Core low risk base for your investment portfolio. Attorney Fee deferral funded with fixed annuities can serve as a component of the stable foundation that allows you to invest other funds in higher-risk investments.
• Save taxes now and make the money work for you during the time before it is paid out.
• Source of income for predictable future life events.

 

More Maryland Woe For Structured Settlement Buyout Companies on Lead Poisoning Cases

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Recent structured settlement reforms in Maryland can't sweep structured settlement secondary market's dirty laundry under the rug, nor should it.

Members of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers Can't Hide From Their Dirty Laundry

A woman who was found to be functionally illiterate with a fourth grade reading level after suffering lead paint poisoning was able to sell off her structured settlement payments, primarily to Bethesda based Stone Street Capital, according to a CBS News report which aired on Wednesday April 20, 2016. Her lawyer Saul Kerpelman said to CBS "it was impossible that she was able to read and understand the documents that were given to her . Literally impossible."   An admission that the deal should not have happened came from Earl Nesbitt, a Dallas lawyer, who represents Stone Street Capital in Texas and also is of counsel to the National Association of Settlement Purchasers. This deal, and many other secondary market deals throughout the industry..."should never have happened'.

Crystal Linton's case has shades of Mary Alice Rose, the case that preceded the blistering front page Washington Post articles in August 2015 that blew the underbelly of the structured settlement factoring industry wide open, stimulating legislator and judiciary outrage that led to rapid sweeping judicial and legislative change in the way structured settlement factoring transactions are handled in Maryland.  Soon more dirty laundry of the structured settlement secondary market was exposed:

• October 2015, young New York native Cedric Martez Thomas does a massive factoring deal with Novation Funding LLC DBA 365 Advance selling $6.600,000 of periodic payments starting virtually immediately for $1,037,000, taking advantage of young Cedric for over $1,400,000 spread. More than one company has told us they would have paid $2,500,000 or higher.  Young Cedric could have had his cake and eaten it too. Instead he will unfortunately be sucking wind for a long time. Novation Funding, using another DBA Novation Settlement Solutions,  continues to grossly mislead consumers in its advertising that it pays the maximum lump sum payouts. 
• A December 2015 front page news story in the Washington Post about Terrence Taylor a high value structured settlement annuitant who, through a flabbergasting level of judicial inadequacy in Portsmouth  VA, was able to complete 11 structured settlement factoring transactions in 2 years and unload millions of dollars in in payments.  Litigation has been pending for over a year and one of the companies sued, related to Client First Funding, yet another NASP member, has settled.   The Taylor story led to legislative reform of the structured settlement protection act in Virginia.
  
• Jose Manuel Camacho, Jr,  a sleazy and corrupt now former Miami lawyer and former sponsor of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers who represented companies such as Liberty Settlement Funding, Novation Funding LLC,  Annuity Transfers Ltd and CBC Settlement Funding  (All of them members of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers) was arrested in October 2015 for forging 7 Broward County Florida judges' signatures on over 100 documents related to structured settlement transfers. Payment have been frozen to investors in the deals until the mess is sorted out.  One of the forged Camacho deals involved Earl Berghman a 67 year old Florida resident who was charged an obscene 48.69% discount rate  by Novation Funding.
  

The National Association of Settlements Purchasers mouthpieces' credibility is eroding rapidly as their  "it's not us it's them" has spectacularly backfired. Most of the bad news has been coming out about members of NASP. 

Following the CBS News Report Stone Street Capital's response was to tweet a picture of young John Travolta with the paraphrased caption " I've got bills they're multiplying", the picture from a movie whose title is a ironically descriptive of the dirty laundry in the industry  "Grease".

Best John Travolta movie quotes that could be figuratively attributed to, or used in a discussion of the structured settlement secondary market:

• "Whew, this movie business is tough. I might just have to go back to loan-sharking for a while to get some vacation."   as Chili Palmer, in Get Shorty 
• "Misdirection. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes",  as Gabriel in Swordfish
  
• "I ain't your friend palooka", as Vincent Vega Pulp Fiction (could describe the reality of who NASP members truly work for when push comes to shove) 
• "Oh, f*ck the future!"  Tony Manero, Saturday Night Fever  (could be used to describe many NASP members advertising "why wait?" or "no more waiting")

Stone Street Capital LLC was Sued by Tampa Lottery Winner over Suspect Transactions

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

On February 6, 2015, Claudia M. Miller filed suit against NASP member Stone Street Capital in Leon County Florida in a case styled Claudia M. Miller v Stone Street Capital LLC  in which the complaint sounded in "Civil Theft", that got my attention. [ Reference: Leon County Claudia M. Miller v Stone Street Capital LLC Case 15-00315]  .  Download 2015_CA_000315_COMP_CA_102988855 Claudia M. Miller, an elderly person v Stone Street Capital Complaint  I was inspired to research and seek out the information after coming across this investigative report video from a Florida NBC News affiliate published February 4, 2016. 

According to NBC news reporter David Hodges, Claudia Miller won $4million in the lottery in 2010 and she decided to take an annuity instead of a lump sum. The annuity was scheduled to pay her $200,000 per year,  quite a nice "salary". "I wanted to be sure that I had an income," Miller said to NBC.

She subsequently sold some of her payments in a factoring deal that went smoothly.  Then in 2013, someone showed up on her farm who  was "just happened to be in the area".  She says to the reporter that he wanted her to enter a new structured settlement. Since the other deal had gone well, Miller agreed to $500,000 upfront to help pay her taxes. "I explained to the man I'm only going to do one," Miller said.  But she got more than she bargained for. She received a letter in 2014 saying she had entered into structured settlements she didn't agree to.

"They said 'Claudia, they did four deals on you not just one. Four deals!'" Miller said.  That meant $2.8 million gone. All handed over to a Bethesda, Maryland company by the Florida Lottery. "It was like they took a knife, cut me open and jerked my guts out," Miller said

According to the NBC report, Claudia M. Miller's Naples FL attorney Ian Northon, alleged that "once they received her signature they used it over and over again to manipulate the court system," . "They used a Xerox machine, took a signature that was valid to another agreement, put a new one on top and submitted it to the court."

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SIDEBAR: Before I continue, I want to straighten out the mis-characterization of the term "structured settlement" to describe factoring a lottery or structured settlement payment.  What Claudia Miller  initially entered into to was a factoring transaction or transfer of lottery periodic payments rights.  The reason that consumers and even the press at times is confused about the term is because of years of false advertising by the factoring industry over the years. When news of Fort Lauderdale sleazeball attorney Scott Rothstein's Ponzi Scheme broke in late 2009, the South Florida press and a former US attorney mislabeled pre-settlement financing "structured settlements".

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Like structured settlement factoring transaction, by law, every structured settlement involving lottery money must be approved by a judge. Lottery winners however, are required to have an attorney and tax adviser.

But Miller never had an attorney. While several court documents show an Indiana attorney as representing her, that lawyer denies even knowing who she is, according to the NBC news  investigative report.

Ian Northon believes someone randomly chose that attorney's name to push the structured settlement through the court.
     
According to NBC, emails obtained by NBC2 also show the Florida Lottery waived Miller's required hearing after only emailing the attorney for the structured settlement company  (Stone Street Capital) and never emailing Claudia Miller herself.

"The Florida Lottery is supposed to keep an eye on that and make sure the statue is being complied with," Northon said.

"Had they picked up the phone at any point along the way and called the lottery winner, (or had her appear in Court as recent structured settlement reforms and proposed reforms in several states require) had they called and said 'Is this what you're trying to do?' they would've known that it wasn't."

When reached for comment on February 8, 2016,  Miller's attorney would only state that the matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of the parties.  

Something is definitely awry.

Legislators Should Install a Regulator "to Call Balls and Strikes" on Structured Settlement and Lottery Buyer and have the power to  "throw da bums out",  if necessary

Here are two HUGE problems exposed by the Miller case that Florida legislators need to address in general. In fact this is a HUGE WARNING to ALL state legislators about the structured settlement protection acts and lottery protection acts.

• Strangers showing up on your property targeting you to sell your lottery or structured settlement payments.  With no background checks it is possible that felons, sexual predators and other miscreants who would NEVER be able to be licensed to sell insurance, sell securities, be a financial adviser or  be a CPA, can show up on your property because "they happen to be in the area".  Isn't it frickin' amazing that the notaries who charge $5/$10 a hit have to be licensed but that the solicitors of the vulnerable.  There needs to be licensure, rules of engagement and an umpire (regulator) with the power "to call balls and strikes" as well as "throw da bums out" when deserved.

Another major issue

If in fact the lawyer photo copied the Claudia M. Miller's signature then what is happening to that lawyer?  That a lawyer might fro whatever reason,  forge legal  documents is certainly plausible on recent information that is in the public domain.  There is precedent in the State of Florida for a sleazy lawyer to work (have worked) for  factoring companies,  notably former Miami attorney Jose Manuel Camacho, Jr. who had been retained by NASP members Novation Funding LLC, Liberty Settlement Funding,  CBC Settlement Funding, Annuity Transfers Ltd and others,  who has been a charged with (and who admitted to) forging over 100 structured settlement transfer documents using the names of 7 Broward County judges and who was arrested in October 2015.  If in fact Stone Street's attorney in the Miller lottery case created the alleged documents with alleged phony replica signatures then it would cast more aspersion on the credibility of structured settlement factoring documents all over the USA.  A New York paralegal, Thomas Rubino who worked for the New York personal injury law firm of Paris & Chaikin which coincidentally also was retained by NASP member Stone Street Capital,  as well as JG Wentworth,  as well as non-NASP member Woodbridge Structured Funding, admitted to forging the names of 76 judges on 234 transfer orders. according to published reports.  How widespread is this phonus balonus?

 

 

 

234 Counts of Forgery While in the Employ of NYC Personal Injury Firm

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

While employed at the New York personal injury firm of Paris & Chaikin from July 2010 to October 2013,  Thomas Rubino forged the signatures of 76 New York state judges on structured settlement transfer orders as part of a total of 234 counts of forgery on 117 falsified orders and other documents.  The story which the industry has known about for 2 years, made the front page of the New York Post with the headline "Law and Forger" (see below).  In addition to its personal injury practice, Paris & Chaikin represented settlement purchasers, such as JG Wentworth, Woodbridge Structured Funding and Stone Street Capital,  in the acquisition of structured settlement payment rights from personal injury victims just like its own clients.

Settlement purchasers, mislabeled structured settlement companies in the Statement of Facts accompanying the Rubino  indictment, purchase structured settlement payments rights from the structured settlement recipient and then sell them to third parties or thee rights are packaged into securities and sold to institutional investors.   The that the New York DA's indictment muddles terms that do not reflect what actually occur, is unfortunate testimony to how far the secondary market through its marketing and false adverting has flourished due to a reckless lack of regulation across the United States.

The indictment, published by the New York Law Journal refers to " structured settlement companies buying annuities from the annuity holder".  This is simply inaccurate.

• A company that purchases structured settlement payments is a settlement purchaser.  Hence the trade association National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP).
• With a structured settlement, the annuity holder is generally the qualified assignment company. Even if structured settlement payment rights are acquired by transfer, the annuity itself is still owned or held by the qualified assignment company.  To be certain what the correct terminology is let's summarize
• People receiving structured settlements own the rights to the structured settlement payments. They do not own the annuity.
• A structured settlement buyer is paying a lump sum today to the seller in exchange for the transfer of the future payment rights.
• The amount that the seller receives is negotiable and may vary between settlement purchasers.

The New York Structured Settlement Protection Act, requires the approval of a justice of the New York State Supreme Court.to ensure that each transfer, each transaction,  is in the best interest of the annuitant and applicable dependents.

Thomas Rubino was arrested on September 16, 2015. In his confession he stated that he was at first overseen by Ian Chaikin,but over time he worked on cases without oversight.  He summarizes his confession by stating the following: THE FORGED ORDERS OCCURRED BECAUSE OF A COMBINATION OF REASONS:

Rubino says he was:

• Overworked
• Not Supervised
• Not Provided Enough Guidance
• Wanted to Help People Get the Money They Needed

Despite his confession Rubino pled not guilty.

Lawsuits were filed against Paris & Chaikin in June by Woodbridge, JG Wentworth and Stone Street Capital.  60 emails with forged structured settlement orders provided by Stone Street Capital and 57 emails and one fax with forged structured settlement transfer orders provided by JG Wentworth. It appears from the supporting documents that the fraud against Woodbridge was a lottery case.

For more, please read:

The People of the State of New York against Thomas Rubino  Supreme Court of the State of New York,  New York County Index 3525/2015

Criminal Indictment Against Thomas Rubino   Rubino Confession

 

The Old "Chicago Bank Roll" and a Waddling "Ben Dover George"

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Stone Street Capital might not think so, but I think I'm doing them a favor. I showed their tweet that I reported on yesterday, to random passenger on an Amtrak train on which I am riding. I asked him to give his first impression of the $100 bill over a wad of $1 bills which Stone Street used to promote itself yesterday.

First words " a bunch of crooks" "That's like the old Chicago Roll"

Not familiar with the term I found this explanation in the Urban Dictionary:

Chicago Bank Roll

A roll of money, consisting entirely of singles, with the exception of a twenty wrapped around the outside.

I thought he gave me the whole amount, turns out it was a Chicago bank roll.

 Stone Streets tweet featured a $100 over $1, and a it was a wad not a roll and thus could be appropriately classified as a  waddling "Ben Dover George".

Now, I'm not saying that Stone Street Capital are a bunch of crooks, far from it,  but another social media gaffe on choice of images is being called into question. Several months ago I took the mickey out due to a  Stone Street ad which appeared to show a man being bitten in half by crocodile, which unwittingly played into the irony of the discount taken by structured settlement buyers and more recently with a tweet featuring a quote from a movie with the title "Taken".

The Stone Street Capital "Sleight of Hand"

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Who does the social media at Stone Street Capital?  A July 23, 2015 tweet shows a fanned out wad of cash (below), featuring a "Ben Franklin" on top and the rest, a wad full of "George".  Talk about a "padded bra!"  An unwitting metaphor on so many levels.

 

Does the positioning of the Ben Franklin represent what you REALLY get when you sell your structured settlement?  Looks can be deceiving. That large lump sum or big lump sum is not as big as it first seems when you get a hold of it. 

The Stone Street Capital tweet unwittingly plays into the irony,  "This can be you, and FAST!"   Ain't that the truth?   You can get a lump sum that is bigger than the amount of your monthly payment today but in the long run you will get less, much less.

In entering into a relationship with any structured settlement buyer, always "look below the surface" because, relatively speaking, what looks like a dollar could turn out to be a wooden nickel. 

 

New York's Paris & Chaikin Law Firm Sued Over Falsified Court Orders

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Stone Street Capital LLC filed a lawsuit against Manhattan personal injury law firm Paris & Chaikin, PLLC, which it retained to seek court approvals for structured settlement transfers, claiming the firm gave them 76 fake judicial orders.  [ see Stone Street Capital, LLC v Paris & Chaikin PLLC, Ian M. Chaikin, Jason Paris and Thomas Rubino  New York State Supreme Court New York County  Index 652434/2015]

Stone Street Capital, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company operating out of  a principal office in Bethesda Maryland, which purchases structured settlement payment rights from annuitants in exchange for a lump-sum payment, which are often mischaracterized throughout the industry as "cash now"  in ads.    Patricia Laborde, it's Senior VP and Division Counsel, is the President of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP).

Paris & Chaikin is a New York City personal injury law firm which has also appeared on behalf of structured settlement buyers such as Stone Street Capital and JG Wentworth.

The transfer of structured settlement payment rights is subject to the New York Structured Settlement Protection Act and rules set forth in 26 U.S. Code § 5891 Structured Settlement. 

• IRC 5891 (a) imposes on any person who acquires directly or indirectly structured settlement payment rights in a structured settlement factoring transaction a tax equal to 40 percent of the factoring discount as determined under subsection (c)(4) with respect to such factoring transaction.
• IRC 5891(b)(1) provides that the excise tax under IRC 5891(a) shall not apply in the case of a structured  settlement factoring transaction in which the transfer of structured
  settlement payment rights is approved in advance in a qualified order.  It is these orders that Paris & Chaikin is alleged to have falsified.

Stone Street Capital LLC hired Paris & Chaikin PLLC to file the structured settlement transfer papers in state courts in New York seeking approval of the sales of structured settlement payment on more than 100 files between 2009 and 2013.   Thomas Rubino, a paralegal  then working at Paris & Chaiken was the point person and the individual who would send  the stamped order from the court approving the transfer.  Partners Jason Paris & Ian Chaikin were also named defendants in the suit.  The law firm was to be paid a flat fee regardless of the outcome.

When it disclosed the problems to the insurance companies, they stopped making payments to Stone Street and institutional investors (in structured settlement payment rights acquired by Stone Street)  [ Complaint para 16]

By failing to properly supervise Thomas Rubino,  defendants,  Stone Street alleges that they  “failed to exercise the care, skill and diligence commonly possessed” by the legal profession.  Stone Street contends that the Defendants admitted the fraudulent activities of Thomas Rubino, in open court  (Complaint para. 20].

In my February 4, 2014 blog Falsified New York Structured Settlement Transfer Orders | Who's To Blame?,   I questioned the judicial system and its "enforcement of the amended New York General Obligations Law § 5-1705 tincludes this: 

At this hearing, the payee shall attend before the Court unless attendance is excused for good cause.

I stated  "I understand that petitions in some of the matters in which transfer  orders were falsified were actually filed with Courts in New York state.  For those where petitions were filed, why weren't there any hearings noticed or scheduled, or any follow up that would have triggered an investigation that would have stopped this "phoney baloney"  stuff?"   Not enforcing the law and not having in person hearing is a recipe for helpless victims to get royally screwed, in my opinion".

While it's not unrealistic to expect supervision of paralegals, will discovery prove that in some cases communications were sent directly to the paralegal Mr. Rubino, without an copy to the name partners and defendants?

In late 2014, S2KM also reported an ongoing investigation of these fraudulent transfers were being conducted by the New York State Courts and the New York County District Attorney's Office. Primary and secondary market representatives with whom S2KM has discussed these fraudulent transfers disagree on how they are impacting judicial attitudes toward structured settlement factoring transactions and factoring companies in New York.

J.G. Wentworth filed a similar lawsuit against the Defendants in June 2015 and my sources also  say that Woodbridge is also filing suit.

Kevin D. Sczepanski, of the Buffalo and New York City law firm Hodgson Russ, LLP, represents Stone Street in the action filed July 9, 2015.

Stone Street Capital Targets "Tea-Baggers", With Muppet?

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

" You have a structured settlement or annuity... actually that is our business" chirps the ad for Stone Street Capital on Twitter, featuring Kermit the Frog drinking Lipton tea.  The message from Stone Street Capital is perhaps an unintended double entendre that "on the one hand" suggests an attempt to justify the controversial scraping of court records by the structured settlement secondary market.

According to the Muppet Wiki ,  the late Jim Henson "made the first Kermit from one of his mother's old coats with Ping-Pong balls for his eyes".   People who rush to sell their structured settlements could learn from Henson's timeless frugality.

Hi Ho! I want my structured settlement back

Be more like Kermit and less like Miss Piggy. Preserve your income stream and only consider selling your structured settlement as an alternative, after you explored and exhausted all other options.

Image : Carrienelson1 | Dreamstime.com - Kermit The Frog, The Muppets Photo

 

 

Cash in Your Structured Settlement So You Can Enjoy Your Weekend?

by John Darer CLU ChFC CSSC RSP CLTC

Stone Street Capital "sighs"  'It's Friday...want to go out and enjoy your weekend without feeling like this on Monday?   Cue picture of a woman aghast that she has an empty wallet  and hashtag #wecanhelpwithat on Twitter.

While I have to admit I find the Stone Street Capital "mala-twits" amusing fodder for a little witty banter, I must say this...

Of course the best "The Stone" can do is throw you a bone, a wishbone,  an advance. Depending on the jurisdiction and availability of documentation, an actual structured settlement factoring transaction could take 90 days.  So you get some tender vittles in your wallet, but it's not for going out and joining everyone who is "twerking for the weekend" Lovergirl.  Selling your structured settlement is expensive money. It is something that should involve sober thought.  And if you can afford to wait for a little longer to receive the full amount of your payments, even better.

"Everybody's workin' for the weekend
Everybody wants a new romance
Everybody's goin' off the deep end..."   -Loverboy

 

 

Stone Street Capital's Perfect Metaphor for Financial Exsanguination

by John Darer CLU ChFC CSSC RSP CLTC

Stone Street Capital, a company that buys structured settlement payment rights out of Bethesda Maryland, gets all chirpy on Twitter about the image below, featuring a man about to get bitten in half by a crocodile from them waist down.

I have to hand it to Stone Street Capital for capturing the perfect metaphor for the "race to the bottom" that is happening in the structured settlement secondary market.

Structured settlement annuitants who are approached by cash now pushers, who are ignorant or oblivious to what is happening around them are sure to suffer a 50% "bite" out of their long term financial security. It won't take long for them to "bleed out" financially.

Roll me over Beethoven!

Seen another way, "enforcement" of the Florida Structured Settlement Protection Act is a "Croc". Ask Michael Lafontant.  

Well done Stone Steet Capital!