ADVERTISEMENTS

This author received a phone call today from a respected plaintiff structured settlement consultant who stated that he informed a member of the current leadership recruiting him that he/she would not join the Society of Settlement planners as long as Rhonda Bentzen was involved. Is this the sign of a wider problem?

For those who are not familiar with the topic Rhonda Bentzen:

• Is a factoring company intermediary  who has historically funneled business through a single funding source.
• Has material omissions on her LinkedIn profile.
• Has stated in writing within the last 3 years that she pays off 90% of her clients in exchange for referrals. Such compensation, whether or not disclosed, increases the amount of costs to  a tort victim at a time of desperation.
• Has stated  that 100% of her clients are "from the structured settlement community"
• Unsuccessfully attempted to sabotage a transparency initiative concerning the aforementioned payoffs.
• Has used her "immigration status" to explain away her associations with those who have a questionable advertising practices.
• Is the Treasurer, member of the Board of Directors and in charge of membership of the Society of Settlement Planners
• Has apparently been given exclusive access to the Society of Settlement Planners' membership by that association's leadership for approximately 4 years. No other factoring companies enjoy access via the channel.
• Has made a member of the" structured settlement community" look foolish for referring a case to her, by offering a piddly 50% less cash to a tort victim on a structured settlement factoring transaction. Fortunately the tort victim shopped around and took the better deal.
• Recently made numerous written and verbal communications to " the structured settlement community" concerning her offering a product which appears to be a security despite no record of being licensed at the time of the solicitation by FINRA as a registered representative or the SEC as  a financial adviser.

The membership of such association has been relatively stagnant for years despite offering valuable educational programs.  The association membership is primarily composed of members of the firm Settlement Professionals, Inc.

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.