by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Structured Settlement Factoring Companies Trafficked in Fear and Exploited AIG Annuitants
A number of cash now for structured settlement companies are exploiting the fears of tort victims with AIG structured settlements. According to our sources tort victims are being falsely told that AIG is going bankrupt. This author understands that AIG attorneys are on the case. The "cash now pushers" are apparently omitting the facts concerning the $85B loan from the Fed and reports from today's Wall Street Journal which said that AIG major shareholders are trying to come up with a plan to pay back the Fed within the term of the loan so that majority control of the company does not have to be ceded.
If you are the recipient of a structured settlement annuity from American General Life insurance Company, American International Life Assurance Company of New York or Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company (VALIC), do not panic! Speak with a structured settlement professional or other qualified financial advisor WITH NO FINANCIAL INTEREST in whether you transfer your rights to the structured settlement payments.
The vultures who call themselves financial advisors who prey on tort victims in the above manner deserve to be identified for all to see, in my opinion.
Selling your structured settlements for cents on the dollar to vultures disguised in benevolence whose ultimate role is ri[ bloody chunks from your financial carcass, does not make financial sense.
Woodbridge Vultures
One could opine that one such vulture is Woodbridge Investments, LLC, whose Vice President of Sales Scott Shapiro was quoted in this press release dated September 18, 2008 (published AFTER the AIG bailout was announced) " (all underlines for emphasis)
- "Major banking institutions and insurance companies like Indymac, Lehman, WAMU, and AIG are reeling to recover from losses, and without a defined way out of turmoil..."
- "We have been doing brisk business in efforts to help secure financial assets backed by AIG Insurance"
- "Our (Woodbridge) customers are dealing with an inherent fear, and anxiety that naturally comes when you are expecting to receive payments for the next twenty or thirty years from companies like AIG that are linked with unprecedented real and rumored cases of bankruptcy".
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Update : Ironically in December 2017 Woodbridge filed for bankruptcy and in October 2019, Robert Shapiro its CEO was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to running a Ponzi scheme that ripped off thousands.
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The obvious questions to ask Woodbridge or ask yourself are:
- “if AIG is going under, why would the factoring company be willing to accept future payments from AIG? Naturally they would only proceed with a purchase if they were sure they would recover their money”.
- " If the purpose of the bail out loan of up to $85B to AIG from the Fed is designed to help AIG raise capital by buying it time to sell of cetain assets in an orderly manner, why should tort victims be burnt at the stake in the cash now pushers fire sale?
On September 18, 2008 a $2,000/month AIG annuity with 360 monthly payments increasing annually at 3% could be sold for $256,000 (a discount of 9.2%). Thats $1,141,810 in future benefits for $256,000! The cost of those benefits in today's dollars is approximately $500,000! Source: Settlement Quotes, LLC
Recipients of AIG structured settlements who have been approached by aggressive cash now pushers trying to buy their structured settlements are encouraged to email this author with your story. We will be preparing a dossier for states' attorneys general.
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