by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Ryan Blank entities banned for 7 Years and made to pay in Maryland in 2018. Now this in 2024
“Ryan Blank and his (3 Delaware LLC) entities, agreed to pay $700,000 as part of the settlement, while SuttonPark Capital, the Florida firm that was set to receive (the Badger) girls’ future payments, agreed to fully reinstate the structured settlements.
Neither Blank, nor SuttonPark responded to requests for comment”, according to McClatchy’s David Weissman in an article published September 25, 2024 in the Myrtle Beach Sun News. Weissman was the author of the 4 part “ripped the cover of the ball” syndicated expose for McClatchy published in September 2022, that led to a major overhaul of how structured settlement factoring is regulated in South Carolina. In my opinion, South Carolina now has one of the strongest structured settlement protection acts in the United States.
Read coverage of the Arthur Badger story below
Murdaugh and Mayhem | Client of Color Ripped Off, Then Factoring Cos.Churned 6 Kids’ Structures – Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog September 12, 2022
Read complaint against Guardian Ad Litem, IPA and cites Ryan Blank, SuttonPark and Ryan Blank entities
Download Copy of Allendale SC Court of Common Pleas v GAL IPA citing Ryan Blank entities.
Ryan Blank is first mentioned in paragraph 13 of the Complaint.
The Complaint cites the following as “Consipirators” entities associated with Ryan Blank
Berkman First Funding, Pitchberg Funding and Sutton Park Structured Settlements and SC lawyer Richard Steadman and his law firm
Ryan Blank paid to bring victim to Washington DC to induce a sale of minors’ structured settlement payments for pennies on the dollar
According to Weissman’s latest report, Ryan Blank paid to bring Arthur Badger Jr. to Washington D.C. and “lavishly entertained” him as part of an effort to convince him to sell him his minor daughters’ structured settlement payments, worth millions, for pennies on the dollar. Weissman’s story includes a picture of a smiling Ryan Blank with the Badger entourage at a hookah lounge from the Badger’s DC trip. A member of the entourage is pictured holding a hookah caterpillar pipe* before Badger’s kids structured settlements went “up in smoke” (at least until the recent settlement).
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SIDEBAR What is a Hookah?
Does Hookah Get You High? Plus, Whether It’s Addictive, by Noreen Iftikhar MD July 12, 2019
“Hookah tobacco is the same tobacco found in cigarettes. This means that when you smoke a hookah, you’re breathing in nicotine, tar, and heavy metals, including lead and arsenic”.
“… the idea that they are safer than cigarettes, or safe at all, is seriously flawed”.
SC Lawyer Richard Steadman’s Law Firm Agreed to Pay for Role in The Factoring of Badger MInors’ Structures
According to Weissman’s published report, “North Charleston attorney Richard Steadman, who represented the factoring companies involved in the factoring deals, and his law firm agreed to pay $250,000 in the settlement” Bankruptcy Attorney Richard Steadman | Charleston, SC | Debt Relief Firm (steadmanlawfirm.com)
SC Lawyer Taylor Peace and his firm agreed to pay for the Conflict of Interest Associated with Independent Professional Advice
“Chapin attorney Taylor Peace and his firm agreed to pay $650,000. Peace submitted a letter to the court filed in some of girls’ transactions stating that he gave independent advice to Arthur Badger concerning the deals. Peace, who clerked for Steadman while he was in law school, was paid by Steadman for this work, a conflict of interest since he was supposed to be acting on behalf of the Badgers” the complaint alleged”. Taylor Peace, Attorney – Harrell, Martin & Peace, PA (harrellmartinpeace.com)
SC Lawyer Martin Harvey who served as Guardian Ad Litem for the last transactions and his firm agreed to pay $700,000
“Harvey reported his opinion to the court that the deals were in the minors’ best interests to help move them into a safer home in a more desirable neighborhood.. But the girls continued to live in the same home, which Harvey admitted he never visited, while the money received in the deals was used to purchase a rental property to supplement the family’s income”
Owings Mills bred Ryan Blank is associated with District Settlement Finance in Washington DC, which has an A+ rating with the BBB, but District Settlement Finance is not BBB Accredited at the time of posting. See District Settlement Finance BBB.
How BBB rates companies Overview of BBB Ratings | Better Business Bureau®
Pitchberg Funding does not appear to have any BBB rating
The Skullduggery of Ryan Blank, his entities and associates has given me an extraordinary amount of material to write about for over a decade, although I simply wish that consumers of structured settlemens were more respected by the likes of Blank.
Settlement Advocates’ Ryan Blank, Director of Companies Banned in MD for 7 Years, Lacks Credibilty as Settlement Advocate – Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog 2018
Annuity Sold Fraudsters Nailed by Maryland AG In Structured Settlement Buyer Crackdown – Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog 2018 January 9, 2018
010818.pdf (marylandattorneygeneral.gov) January 2018 Maryland Attorney General Press Release
Annuity Sold’s Ryan Blank is Co-Principal Of Co. Dissolved Days After WaPo Article Was Published – Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog 2016
Structured Settlement Consumers Deserve to Be Respected
Will this South Carolina outcome be a deterrent to Ryan Blank, other factoring actors and their supporting casts?
Hard to say, but South Carolina is on the right track. South Carolina’s Structured Settlement Protection Act is now one of the toothiest in the USA. The Badger settlement not only hits the structured settlement factoring company, it hits the secondary market assignee (and, by entension its investors). bloodies the noses of the lawyers and law firms for the factoring company, guardians ad litem and the lawyer or advisor providing substandard independent professional advice.
It’s time for all states to regulate sales practices in the structured settlement secondary and tertiary markets. There must be a clear pathway to go after bad actors when it’s warranted.