Structured Settlements 4Real®Blog 2026

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

The Woodbridge lawsuit against Mt. Airy’s David Springer was significant for exposing the chaos of the structured settlement secondary market of the time and questionable business ethics

Sovereign Funding Group CEO David Springer, of Mt Airy MD, was falsely held out as a lawyer in an SFG advertisement featuring Fiverr celebrity “Old Bitty Grandma”, a/k/a “Mean Millie Mouthoff” , a/k/a “Rice Crispy JoJo” who called him  “an honest attorney who cares“.   [<—starting at 0:26 of the video linked to the left]. David Springer is not a lawyer.

• David Springer conceded (in his June 28,2013 deposition)  that all marketing, promotional and management decisions for Sovereign Funding Group have been made by him  [noted in Document 108 PreTrial Order  Woodbridge v Sovereign Funding Group and David Springer]

Then David Springer, having gone through two high priced law firms,  acting  as a “lawyer” pro se, defending himself at his upcoming trial, which starts June 9, 2014 in the Maryland Federal District Court in Baltimore (the trial ended up starting August 2014). 

The pending Woodbridge lawsuit against David Springer is the second filed lawsuit against Springer stemming from an alleged campaign and scheme to misappropriate the marks of his competitors that began in 2011. This type of alleged behavior has been observed to be prevalent in the structured settlement secondary market as I have detailed in numerous blog posts.  Springer was able to extricate himself from the JG Wentworth litigation in March 2012, but Woodbridge has been tenacious in its pursuit of justice.

What is the significance of the Woodbridge v David Springer lawsuit?

The Woodbridge litigation against David Springer et al. was an important one for the structured settlement secondary market, The litigation raised important questions about market conduct and business ethics of particpants in the structured settlement secondary market:

1. What is acceptable business conduct in the structured settlement secondary market?  
2. Is brand jacking, through link building and redirect schemes a legitimate way to do business?

Regardless of damages awarded, in my opinion, a decision in this case in favor of Woodbridge may have potential implications for Fairfield Funding, which has been associated with Einstein Structured Settlements, that has employed brand jacking techniques of a slightly different flavor; and Genex Strategies,Inc/Genex Capital, for which there has been ties to Structured Settlement Quotes(dot)com  (SSQ), a virtual “how to” on how capitalize on your competitors’ brands and trademarks.  SSQ has had ties to David Springer as well as Genex Capital, as shown in prevous blog posts.

Back to Pre-Trial report…

A. David Springer states the following as fact

“SFG began BROKERING structured settlements and annuities in 2007 to companies like Woodbridge. Woodbridge states incorrectly that SFG is in the business of purchasing structured settlements and/or lotteries”.

On the other hand…

Sovereign Funding Group website September 2, 2011 (same relevant time period)

“Our group has been buying structured settlements, annuities and lottery winnings for a very long time.  For over 10 years we have truly positioned and pioneered our own approach to quickly offering a lump sum on structured settlements.  Our own step-by-step process is efficient, and best of all quick!  We  purchase structured settlement and annuity payments quickly, which is what we’re expected to do”.  

Comments

1. Whether or not Springer was a broker or not the word broker is never mentioned in the archived web pages.  Why not?
2. If Springer/Sovereign Funding were just a “broker to companies like Woodbridge” (or JG Wentworth), why would he need to create a JG Wentworth Sucks site  (JGW-Sucks.com)?

B. Lame Attempt to Explain Away “Did David Springer Order  The”Code Red?”

B. Springer states that the “1st time that Springer had ever heard of the Woodbridge, We BuyPayments issue was somewhere around October (2011) after Woodbridge’s attorneys  (Hartford CT’s Halloran & Sage) sent Andrew Cravenho, the owner of Structured Settlement Quotes LLC, a cease and desist letter demanding that he stop the redirection defamation scheme”.  “the 2nd time was one  month later when Kathryn Sias, SFG’s full-time marketing consultant”…”

Comments

1. In fact, David Springer was “made aware” of the “webuypayments” redirect scheme in July 2011, by me personally as a result of my investigation into the parasitic redirect scheme.  David Springer sent me an email on July 19, 2011 acknowledging the call and  saying “thanks for the heads up on those links”. Download David Springer email 7-19-2011 Thanks for heads up on the links

On July 25, 2011, I authored and published my first post on webuypayments.net. Springer/Sovereign were also connected with webuypayments.com. According to my contemporaneous writings and personal recollection, the voicemail at the phone number on the webuypayments.net landing page resolved to a voicemail greeting featuring David Springer’s voice. David Springer further implicated himself in the webuypayments scheme through an email to Kathryn Sias and Nicholas Jackson on May 9, 2012, where he referred to the aforementioned call about links to webuypayments.net as “out of the blue calling to pry into SFG business.”   [ SFG stands for Sovereign Funding Group ]

2.  Andrew Cravenho founded a company called Settlement Quotes, LLC. In 2011, he sold his stake in SSQ, the web platform, to Roger Proctor or an entity under his control. David Springer reportedly had detailed knowledge of this deal, based on information from Nicholas John Jackson, a former employee of both Genex Strategies, Inc., and Sovereign Funding Group. Details of the Cravenho deal were revealed by Springer through written communications to several parties in February 2012.

3.  (i) David Springer’s explanation is misleading, as he personally received a cease and desist letter from FEDEX on October 5, 2011, requiring his compliance by October 7, 2011.

Download Woodbridge Cease and Desist to David Springer Sovereign Funding 10-5-2011

(ii) The October 5, 2011 Woodbridge cease and desist letter to Springer,  was sent to the address that, according to our sources, was the residence that David and Melissa Stoloff Springer (the latter listed as the SMFG/ SFG company registrant on the company registration with the Maryland Secretary of State). shared,  until 2009, when they moved to the Lomar Drive address in Mount Airy, MD.   Note that the Better Business Bureau report contemporaneous to the time of the webbuypayments fandango, shows the Columbia MD address. Download Sovereign Funding Group Business Review in Columbia, MD – Maryland BBB 9-29-2011   

Moreover, one of  David Springer’s female “sock puppets”  (some of which he created in January 2013) Karen Jones  (Springer himself) wrote January 23, 2013,  “mentioned to management that the address is listed on Google incorrectly as Columbia Maryland address instead of showing the correct Rockville Maryland address” (the latter being a UPS store mail box registered by David Springer on or about June 15, 2012, following receiving a FEDEX letter from my attorney that he and his wife were going to be named as two of the John Does in litigation then pending in Connecticut Federal Court), following receipt of information obtained in expedited discovery authorized by the court in a legal action related to the 2012 defamation scheme conducted against me. Download Karen Jones – Google+ 9-28-2013

As reported contemporaneously, on  October 7, 2011, the very date that David Springer was given as a deadline by Woodbridge, the WBP links were diverted from WBP to our company website.  David Springer certainly had the motive, as revenge for uncovering the parasitic brand jacking scheme.

C. Investigative Blogging as a Defense?

” Since that Blog Entry, Darer has written over 100 blog articles about SFG/Sovereign/WBP”

(i) The quantity of blog posts is not relevant to the Woodbridge case.

(ii) That being said, here is link to the Sovereign Funding Critical commentary.   We make no apologies for being observant, or for asking questions where they needed to be asked.  David Springer  involved his family in his business and perhaps used their property or accounts to conduct his business, therefore isn’t David Springer the proximate cause to their being  “in harm’s way”? 

Examples:

(1) Melissa Stoloff Springer as the registrant for Sovereign Mortgage and Funding Group

(2) See above reference to expedited discovery

(3) David Springer acting as an imposter for his wife because as he testified June 28, 2013, he “wasn’t legally allowed to work yet” (in the United States)

(4) David Springer/Sovereign Funding Group permitted two press releases to be issued in August 2011 and November 2011  that claimed he was in “the (structured settlement) business for 15 years”, where three years later in a  pre-trial submission, he claimed he was only doing in “the business” since 2007  (i.e. 4 years at the time of the press releases).  What he was doing in the 15 years is in the public domain.

It is only by the collective efforts and alert observation that bad business practices can obliterated.  We are grateful to our informants who have had the courage to come forward with information.

In our most recent telephone conversation in the last 10 days, initiated by David Springer, Springer said he got it. He said the entire secondary industry was sleazy and Springer said that nobody that has ever sold structured settlement payment rights to him/SFG was in a better position a year later. He states that he is against the “free checks” being used as an inducement by many cash now pushers.