by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Maryland is No Crow Bar
Milestone has gone where no primary structured settlement brokerage has gone before (at least overtly), by
establishment of a structured settlement factoring company, Crowfly, LLC. Not only that but John Bair, a WestPoint grad who used to fly Apache helicopters and served in the Gulf War, has let the crow fly South into Maryland, where Crowfly, LLC. has been registered as a structured settlement transferee since July 11, 2019.
Maryland Structured Settlement Protections Strengthened Due to Access Funding Scam
Maryland has been a tough nut to crack since the Access Funding fraud that scammed many Baltimore City lead paint victims and was exposed by the Washington Post in August 2015. The scam included an attorney accused of sham independent professional advice and another attorrney who was caught taking bribes as government official. The Access Funding Scam cascaded into the tertiary market, threatening the investment of retirees, in factored structured settlement payment streams, after lawsuits were filed making competing claims for the future payments. The factored structured settlement payment streams were scam labeled secondary market annuities by shameless merchants who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to protect dollars that they market to investors as safe.
Maryland law requires that anyone filing a petition for a transfer of structured settlement payment rights in Maryland must be registered with the Office of the Attorney General as a structured settlement transferee. See Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-1107. See Application to Register as a Structured Settlement Transferee in the State of Maryland. There is an initial registration fee of $2,000 and the company must post a $100,000 bond.
Where to Obtain Information About Structured Settlement Transferees Registered in Maryland
The Office of the Attorney General will treat Social Security Numbers provided in this application and its accompanying forms, as well as answers to Question #6(d) and Question #6(e) [ average discount rates charged in for deals under and over $100,000 for each of the preceding 5 years], as not subject to public inspection under the Maryland Public Information Act (“MPIA”). See Md. Code Ann., Gen. Provs. §§ 4-334, 4-335. The Office of the Attorney General may, however, publish de-identified information derived from answers to Question #6(d) and Question #6(e). The Office of the Attorney General may deny public inspection of other information provided by the applicant in an application and its accompanying forms in accordance with the MPIA.
Where You Can't Go to Get an Annuity Sold in Maryland
Following reforms that came into being following Access Funding, the number of structured settlement transferee registrations was slow at first, but now there are eight companies registered and authorized to operate and/or solicit in Maryland. One of those won't be AnnutySold, a company associated with Owings MIlls punks Richart Ruddie and Ryan Blank, whose various associated companies were fined and banned from doing business in Maryland for 7 years due to fraud, following a Maryland Attorney General investigation.
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