Edward Stone

Edward Stone Law -- Eddie Stone

Edward Stone has practiced law and represented individuals, entrepreneurs, and growth stage companies in various capacities in the structured settlement, life settlement, litigation finance, and insurance industries for more than thirty years. Prior to his involvement in the specialty finance industry, Mr. Stone practiced corporate and private international law, representing U.S., French, Italian and Spanish banks, finance companies and retail, wholesale and manufacturing entities.

After returning to private practice in 2012, Mr. Stone founded Edward Stone Law P.C. The firm represented numerous victims of the Executive Life Insurance Company of New York (“ELNY”) liquidation whose structured settlement annuity (“SSA”) benefits were cut by up to 60% when the insurance company was declared insolvent after more than twenty years of “rehabilitation.” After the Executive Life liquidation went into effect in 2013, ESL assisted dozens of Executive Life SSA payees in recovering some or all of their reduced benefits.

Edward Stone Law has successfully represented numerous individuals across the country whose periodic SSA payments were improperly acquired by unscrupulous and predatory factoring companies. The firm’s efforts have returned millions of dollars in periodic payments to injury victims who fell prey to factoring companies who skirted the requirements of 26 U.S.C. § 5891.

Edward Stone acts as Special Counsel to the Association of BellTel Retirees and is the Executive Director of the Association of DuPont Retirees and Retirees for Justice, working with these organizations to preserve, protect and restore retirees’ earned benefits. In 2014, Mr. Stone was instrumental in securing the passage of a “best practices” resolution by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) designed to offer guidance to state legislators on issues relating to pension de-risking. Mr. Stone worked with the former ProtectSeniors.org and other retiree groups and state legislators to enact laws in Connecticut in 2015 (Connecticut Public Act 15-167) and Virginia in 2018 (SB755) restoring creditor protections to retirees in pension de-risking transfers.

From 1994-2005, Mr. Stone was President of Stone International LLC, a specialty finance consulting and servicing company, which served as the U.S. based administrator of all Contingency Claims Insurance underwritten by Lloyd’s Syndicate 102 f/k/a Goshawk and acted as sub-servicer to DZ Bank A.G. in connection with DZ’s credit facility with Life Capital, BV, a Netherlands based financing entity. From 2006-2009 Mr. Stone served as a Managing Director at Plainfield Asset Management, LLC, a Greenwich Connecticut based hedge fund, and President/Chairman and consultant for Caldwell Funding Corp., a Plainfield portfolio company in the insurance finance business. In 1995, Mr. Stone was instrumental in bringing the first institutional purchase facility to the structured settlement market as a founding partner of J.G. Wentworth SSC, LP. During his tenure with Wentworth, Mr. Stone was actively involved in negotiating, lobbying, and eventually helping to secure the passage of 26 U.S.C. § 5891 which imposes a 40% excise tax on persons acquiring structured settlement payment rights from injury victims without meeting certain minimum criteria.

Mr. Stone is a frequent speaker and panelist lecturing on pension de-risking, the structured settlement secondary market, and the Executive Life liquidation. In May 2015, Mr. Stone testified before the ERISA Advisory Council addressing the need for disclosures both pre- and post- pension risk transfers. Mr. Stone also gave featured presentations at the Annual Conference of the Society of Settlement Planners in 2014, 2015, and 2016 on various aspects of the Executive Life liquidation. Mr. Stone was a featured speaker at the 2013 National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP) Annual Conference presenting on the Executive Life debacle. Mr. Stone was a guest speaker at several recent annual meetings of the Association of BellTel Retirees addressing issues concerning retirees in pension de-risking transactions. Mr. Stone will be a guest speaker at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Society of Settlement Planners.

EDUCATION
Mr. Stone is a graduate of Clark University (B.A.) and earned his law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University (J.D.).  He also studied at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, France and taught English at the Lycee Louis le Grand, also in Paris. 

BAR ADMISSIONS
New York
Connecticut
US District Court, Southern District of New York
US District Court, Eastern District of New York
US District Court, Connecticut
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

LANGUAGES
Mr. Stone speaks fluent French and proficient Spanish.

MEMBERSHIPS
New York State Bar Association