Annuity Sold – Structured Settlement Factoring Scam

On January 8, 2018, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced that Maryland’s Consumer Protection Division had entered into a settlement resolving an investigation into  deceptive marketing  practices by Annuity Sold, LLC and its many affiliated companies:  Uber Funding,LLC; Bendermere Capital Solutions, LLC; Axis Funding, LLC; Stonebridge Capital, LLC; Greenspring Funding, LLC; LSG, LLC; Preak Street, LLC; ILILIL2010, LLC; Palantir Packaging, LLC; and JRR Funding, LLC.  Annuity Sold and its affiliates were in the business of purchasing structured settlement payment streams for lump sums.

The deceptive marketing practices employed by Annuity Sold and its affiliates included letters written on behalf of a fictitious judge and a fictitious law firm, letters containing the logo of the Baltimore Ravens football team, letters stating that the recipient qualified for a zero percent interest loan, and letters from non-existent insurance companies.  An article in The Baltimore Sun reported that Annuity Sold disagreed with the allegations, but settled “to avoid the cost and uncertainty of litigation.”

Annuity Sold and its affiliates have been banned from doing business in Maryland for seven (7) years,  ordered to pay civil penalties, and make restitution to annuitants who sold their structured settlement payment streams to Annuity Sold and its affiliates.

Maryland has one of the strongest structured settlement protection acts, and Attorney General Frosh has taken a strong stand against deceptive practices in the structured settlement secondary market.  Earlier posts on this subject can be found here, and here.