by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Is MJ Settlements Cruising For a Showdown with Insurers?
MJ Settlements appears to be heading toward a potential conflict with several insurers over the use of their trademarked logos on its website, trading on the goodwill and branding of those companies for its own potential financial gain in promoting sales of structured settlement receivables to investors. Additionally, MJ Settlements inaccurately describes these structured settlement receivables as annuities in a deceptful manner in its marketing efforts on both its website and social media platforms. See below for today's example.
Active Structured Settlement Annuity Issuer Trademarked Logos on MJ Settlements Website Wheel of Logos
Pacific Life
Name USPTO Serial Number 75207211 June 23, 1998
Trademark Status & Document Retrieval
Logo USPTO Serial Number 75741937 December 18, 2001
Trademark Status & Document Retrieval
New York Life Insurance Company
Logo USPTO Serial Number 74154351 Registered June 30, 1992
Trademark Status & Document Retrieval
Name USPTO Serial Number 74237947 Registered February 2, 1993
Trademark Status & Document Retrieval
The Prudential Insurance Company of America
Covered in my June 1, 2025 post MJ Settlements Using Prudential's Registered Trademark to Pitch Structured Settlement Receivable to Investors - Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog: Structured Settlements | Settlement Planning News and John Darer Reviews
CEO Lesk's Expired Appointments
- Pacific Life, expired 2022
- Pruco (a Prudential underwriting company, however not the one that issues structured settlement annuities), expired 2023
- John Hancock, expired 2023
Source: Florida Department of Financial Services Licensee Detail
MJ Settlements Uses Trademark Logos of Insurers with which neither MJ Settlements nor CEO Lesk have held an appointment in the home state of Florida
- Symetra Life Insurance Company
- Berkshire Hathaway
- AIG
It should be noted that AIG spun off its Life & Retirement Division in 2022, which was rebranded as Corebridge Financial. According to Florida Department of Financial Services, Lesk is still appointed with one of the Corebridge companies. Corebridge is not in the structured settlement factoring business.
As previously reported June 1, 2024, Todd Lesk is the CEO of MJ Settlements according to his LinkedIn; his wife Ricia Lesk is the President according to Florida Secreatry of State records.
What is Fair Use?
Trademarks enable the public to recognize goods or services as originating from a particular source. A trademark owner can stop others from using its trademark to prevent confusion about the source of the goods or services. In some circumstances however, someone may use another party’s trademark if the use is considered a “fair use”. This “fair use” exception is recognized throughout most of the world.
MJ Settlements Added the Wheel of Logos After My June 1, 2025 Posting
It is evident that MJ Settlements is utilizing the branded and registered trademarked logos of various life insurers—key brand identifiers of insurers currently issuing structured settlement annuities—to promote structured settlement receivables, which are not annuities. This seems to done with an intent to derive financial gain for MJ Settlements from its use of these trademarked logos and brand identifiers displayed on the MJ Settlements website.
A structured settlement receivable offered to by MJ Settlements (or any company in the secondary or tertiary market) does not qualify as a receivable in the form marketed to investors by MJ Settlements (or similar entities) until the transfer of structured settlement payment rights is finalized in accordance with IRC 5891 and applicable structured settlement protection acts.
Furthermore, as the majority of structured settlement annuities are acquired by qualified assignment companies (not sold to individuals) when a structured settlement is established and the ownership of the annuity does not transfer in a structured settlement factoring transaction, the act of MJ Settlements and Lesk referring the receivables an annuity is, to say the least, both false and misleading.
This activity pertains to companies with which Todd Lesk is not appointed to sell life insurance, and/or to place structured settlement annuities. The action of adding the wheel of trademarked insurer logos after my June 1, 2025 post is damning and indefensible, in my opinion.
Lesk has been the CEO of two companies that have flaunted use of Insurance Company Logos for Almost 15 Years
MJ Structured Settlement Annuities Using Insurance Company Logos March 14, 2014
How Big of a Problem is Secondary and Tertiary Market Trading On and Seeking to Profit From Insurer Logos?
Look no further than my May 4, 2025 post for another glaring example
The deliberate misrepresentation of structured settlement receivables as annuities propped up by the deliberate, unauthorized and deceptive use of insurers' trademarked logos by anyone in the structured settlement secondary or tertiary markets in advertising needs to come to an end
There is no gray area
- National Association of Settlement Purchasers Statutory Issue Paper No. 160 ("not an annuity or insurance or product") Finalized April 6, 2019.
- 2017 Modifications to the Life & Health Guaranty Associations Model Act. You invest in receivables you could end up with zero if the insurer liquidates. Adopted by majority of US states. It applies retroactively. So an investor is not safe if receivables were acquired before the effective date that a state adopts the Model Act. I've written about it extensively.
- "Receivables Purchase Agreement" is the name of the agreement that an investor enters into to acquire structured settlement receivables. If it were an annuity wouldn't it say Annuity application?
- Definition of annuity under the laws of most states does not jive with those serving up the steaming bowl of bollocks bollognaise that investors are buying annuities instead of receivables.
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