by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Charles E. Smith's Structured Settlement IPA Work | The "Pffft" That Keeps on Lingering
Allstate offered an Advanced Funding Exchange Notice (AFEN) liquidity option as a rider its standard
structured annuity contract, which according to its terms, permitted annuitants to exchange their future payments for a lump sum at a discount rate of 8%. This is material information that was publicly available and that attorney Charles E. Smith should have known when he was engaged to provide independent professional advice.
Charles E. Smith's bogus independent professional advice to Baltimore lead paint victims with structured settlements has already been the subject of a Washington Post expose, or two. I also posted about his "work" in June 2015 (see link below).
But having been provided with and examined a list of cases where Charles E.Smith was listed as the provider of independent professional advice (or alleged independent professional advice), at a trade conference, the details of just how badly Charles E. Smith's shoddy advice shafted Allstate structured settlement annuitants in particular, including the late Freddie Gray and his family, have become crystal clear.
Discount rate on a sampling of Maryland structured settlement transfer cases involving Allstate Life Insurance Company payee where Charles E. Smith is listed as the IPA. Compare to Allstate's AFEN rate of 8%.
Melinda Buchanan CAE14-13520 10.48%
Brittany Marshall CAE14-13538 18.71%
Melinda Buchanan CAE-14-13537 10.48%
Vincent Jones Jr. CAE 13-35467 13.93%
Jason Blake CAE 13-36530 16.73%
Tysean Robinson CAE 13-37648 18.05%
Crystal Linton CAE 13-37649 22.52%
Crystal Linton CAE 13-28909 19.85%
Frank Driver CAE 14-02175 25.07%
Brian Stokes CAE 13-23519 22.80%
Freddie Gray Jr. CAE 13-28911 17.10%
Carolina Gray CAE 13-28911 17.10%
Fredericka Gray CAE 13-28910 17.10%
Floyd Lindell CAE 13-28912 12.31%
MD Lawyer Charles E. Smith Sued for Bad Structured Settlement Advice in IPA June 19, 2015
How many of the payment streams from these cases ended up as structured settlement derivatives sold as scam labeled "secondary market annuities" to investors?
Maryland's structured settlement transfer laws were amended and higher standards became required for IPAs as a result of the furor created by the Washington Post expose. An appeal of the settlement in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of victims, by the Maryland Attorney General, is pending oral arguments in March 2019.