Access Funding Fraud in Maryland – Update

Access Funding is back in the news in a January 21, 2019 article in The Washington Post. The recent settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by two of Access Funding’s former customers would provide about $750,000 for victims of the company.  Under the terms of the settlement, the victims released claims filed by Attorney General Brian Frosh which means that they cannot receive any additional restitution.  Attorney General Frosh’s office has appealed the lawsuit “in the hopes that it will be able to win back money for the victims.”  Access Funding is accused of targeting victims of lead paint poisoning, many of whom are mentally impaired and pressuring them into selling their structured settlement periodic payments.  The Washington Post has actively sought to expose structured settlement scams, in 2015 publishing a feature article by Terrence McCoy, “How companies make millions off lead-poisoned, poor blacks” that highlighted the problems plaguing the structured settlement factoring industry.