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FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015

ELEVATED LEAD LEVELS IN CHILDREN CHILDREN IN POVERTY VACANT RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES 3.1% 1.2% 54.8% 33.4% 34.3% 8.8% SANDTOWN- BALTIMORE CITY SANDTOWN- BALTIMORE CITY SANDTOWN- BALTIMORE CITY WINCHESTER AVERAGE WINCHESTER AVERAGE WINCHESTER AVERAGE

Based on 2009-2013 data from Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, for children ages 0 to 6 Lead poisoning is ‘toxic legacy’ that still haunts Freddie Gray’s Baltimore

by Terrence McCoy was a couple of walls that wasn’t painted all the way, peeled. . . . And like the win- BALTIMORE — The house where Freddie dows, paint was peeling off the windows.” Gray’s life changed forever sits at the end of Before Freddie Gray was injured in a long line of abandoned rowhouses in one police custody last month, before he died of this city’s poorest neighborhoods. The and this city was plunged into rioting, his interior of that North Carey Street house, life was defined by failures in the class- cluttered with couches and potted plants, room, run-ins with the law and an inability is lacquered in a fresh coat of paint that to focus on anything for very long. makes the living room glow. Many of those problems began when But it wasn’t always this way. When he was a child and living in this house, Gray lived here between 1992 and 1996, according to a 2008 lead-poisoning law- paint chips flaked off the walls and littered suit filed by Gray and his siblings against the hardwood floor, according to a 2008 the property owner. The suit resulted in an lawsuit filed in Baltimore City Circuit undisclosed settlement. Court. The front window­sills shed white Reports of Gray’s history with lead strips of paint. come at a time when the city and nation It was worst in the front room, where are still trying to understand the full rami- Gray bedded down most nights with his fications of lead poisoning. Advocates and mother, he recalled years later in a deposi- studies say it can diminish cognitive func- tion. tion, increase aggression and ultimately “There was a big hole when you go up exacerbate the cycle of poverty that is the steps,” Gray recalled in 2009. “There already exceedingly difficult to break. FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 2

It is nonetheless hard to know whether Gray’s problems were exclusively borne of lead poisoning or were the result of other socioeconomic factors as well. From birth, his was a life of intractable poverty that would have been challenging to overcome. Equally difficult to know is the total number of chil- dren lead has poisoned. That’s because the declared thresh- old for how much lead a body can safely tolerate has shifted dramatically over the years as researchers have come to FAMILY PHOTO better understand its dan- A photo from a court filing in a lead-poisoning lawsuit shows young gers. Decades ago, city health Freddie Gray and the peeling paint in the house where he lived. officials tested for blood lead levels that were higher than 20 micro- cities have substantially reduced the num- grams of lead per deciliter of blood. Now, ber of houses with paint containing lead. it is believed that anything higher than 5 “A child who was poisoned with lead micrograms can cripple a child’s cognitive is seven times more likely to drop out of development. school and six times more likely to end “In 1993, we found that 13,000 kids up in the juvenile justice system,” Nor- in Baltimore had been poisoned with lead, ton said. She called lead poisoning Balti- but we weren’t collecting at the levels that more’s “toxic legacy” — a still-unfolding we are today,” said Ruth Ann Norton, the tragedy with which she says the city has executive director of the Coalition to End yet to come to terms. Those kids who were Childhood Lead Poisoning. “If we had, we poisoned decades ago are now adults. And would have found 30,000 poisoned kids.” the trauma associated with lead poisoning Overall, more than 93,000 children ­“creates too much of a burden on a com- with lead poisoning have been added to munity,” she said. the state’s Department of the Environment The burden weighs heaviest on the lead registries over the past two decades, a poorest communities, such as the Sand- time frame in which Baltimore and other town-Winchester neighborhood in West FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 3

Baltimore where Freddie Gray lived. Here, most houses were built decades ago, at a time when paint manufacturers hailed lead as a cheap additive. The effect of that lead, which Congress effec- tively banned in 1978, has been profound on Gray’s neighborhood. Statistics between 2009 and 2013 showed that more than 3 percent of children younger than 6 had possibly dangerous levels of lead in their blood, more than double the figure for the entire city. Lead poisoning has been an especially cruel scourge on African American communities. “Nearly 99.9 percent of my clients were black,” said Saul E. Kerpel- man, a Baltimore lawyer who said he has litigated more than 4,000 lead-poisoning lawsuits over three decades. “That’s the sad fact to life in the ghetto that the only living conditions people can afford will likely poison their kids. . . . If you only have $250 per month, you’re going to get a run-down, dilapi- dated house where the landlord hasn’t inspected it the entire time they’ve owned it.” Residents of Sandtown and other poor pockets of Baltimore now reflect on whether their lives would have turned out differently if they hadn’t grown up inside houses with lead paint. FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 4

“All these kids that “Jesus,” Dan Levy, an grew up in those houses, “The real tragedy of lead assistant professor of pedi- they all have ADHD,” said is that the damage it atrics at Johns Hopkins Rosalyn Brown, referring does is irreparable.” University who has studied to attention-deficit hyper- Dan Levy, assistant professor of the effects of lead poison- activity disorder. Brown pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University ing on youths, gasped when has lived in Gray’s neigh- told of Gray’s levels. “The borhood for decades and fact that Mr. Gray had these now occupies the house he once lived in. high levels of lead in all likelihood affected “They have mood swings. They have anxi- his ability to think and to self-regulate and ety.” Like her son, she said. She raised him profoundly affected his cognitive ability to in a house peppered with shards of paint. process information.” He must have eaten some, Brown said. She Levy added, “And the real tragedy of wonders whether she, too, should pursue lead is that the damage it does is irrepa- litigation and try to collect a “lead check.” rable.” Freddie Gray’s path toward such liti- By the time Gray and his family moved gation began months after his birth in into the hovel on North Carey Street, which August 1989. He and his twin sister, Fred- became the subject of the subsequent liti- ericka, were born two months prematurely gation, the amount of lead in his system to a mother, Gloria Darden, who said in a had fallen. But he and his sisters began deposition she began using heroin when developing problems. she was 23. Freddie lived in the hospital His sister, Fredericka, developed his first months of life until he gained five issues with aggression, Gray said in a 2009 pounds. deposition. “She still got problems like It wasn’t long after that he was given that,” he said. “She still do. She always was the first of many blood tests, court records the aggressive one. She liked to fight all the show. The test came in May of 1990, when time and all of that.” the family was living in a home on Fulton Equally troubling was the children’s Avenue in West Baltimore. Even at such a performance in the classroom. The twins young age, his blood contained more than and an older sister were diagnosed with 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood either ADHD or attention-deficit disorder — double the level at which the Center for ADD, and Fredericka’s academic career Disease Control urges additional testing. was “riddled with suspensions,” court Three months later, his blood had nearly records say. 30 micrograms. In June 1991, when Gray It wasn’t any better for Freddie, who was 22 months old, his blood carried 37 never graduated high school and was often micrograms. absent from his studies because of truancy FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 5

or suspensions. “All the schools that I went Still, the relationship between pov- to, I was in special education,” Gray said. He erty and lead poisoning remains difficult ultimately got arrested more than a dozen to parse. Was it the lead poisoning that times, with convictions involving the sale resigned Gray and his family to a life on or possession of heroin or marijuana. He the margins? Or would they have ended up eventually served two years behind bars. there anyway? There, he learned brick masonry and har- Those were questions that Brown, bored ambitions of getting into the trade. who now lives in Gray’s old house, mulled But even that seemed a stretch to some. over Wednesday afternoon. An attorney “I don’t know much about brick masonry sends her weekly notices alerting her to because I am not very handy myself, but, the dangers of lead poisoning and asking you know, is he someone that I would want whether she or other residents want to sue to plan my walkway?” said psychologist over the alleged damage they experienced Neil Hoffman, who interviewed Gray as years ago. part of the lead-poisoning lawsuit. “No.” “I can see it,” she said, recalling the The compounding setbacks didn’t houses she once inhabited. “I was sweep- come as a surprise to Levy, who said he ing and mopping up chips of paint all the has seen numerous children in Baltimore’s time. I believe my anxiety comes from that. ghettos — sometimes called “lead kids” — We got poisoned.” whose lives have followed a similar trajec- [email protected] tory. NHL PLAYOFFS: Caps stun Rangers at horn to win series opener. Sports ABCDE K MD DC VA M2 V1 V2 V3 V4

Showers 66/52 • Tomorrow: Partly sunny 73/56 • details, B8 FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015 washingtonpost.com • $1.50 Chaos in tower, danger in skies at base in Africa

DOCUMENTS: U.S. MILITARY PILOTS AT RISK Local air controllers said to doze on job, ignore calls

BY CRAIG WHITLOCK aviation experts and documents obtained by The Washington The skies above the U.S. mili- Post under the Freedom of Infor- tary’s counterterrorism hub on mation Act. the Horn of Africa have become Unlike other major U.S. mili- chronically dangerous, with pi- tary bases around the world, lots forced to rely on local air- Camp Lemonnier is wholly de- traffic controllers who fall asleep pendent on civilian air-traffic on the job, commit errors at controllers, hired by the govern- astronomical rates and are hos- ment of Djibouti to keep the tile to Americans, documents skies safe. But as the base has show. increased in size and impor- Conditions at Camp Lemonni- tance, the Djiboutian controllers’ er in Djibouti, the base for U.S. hazardous habits and deep dis- pilots flying sensitive missions like for drones have disrupted over Yemen and Somalia, have U.S. military operations and trig- become so dire that American gered repeated warnings about warplanes and civilian airliners the risk of an aviation catastro- alike are routinely placed in phe. jeopardy, according to federal DJIBOUTI CONTINUED ON A11 MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST Quake survivor Pemba Tamang is carried away on a stretcher in Kathmandu after Fairfax County emergency personnel helped save him.

urrounded by the rubble of a Response Team. Their priority mission is Sanders taking aim collapsed guesthouse Thursday to help trapped survivors. morning, a dozen rescue workers “Another car jack,” one of his team- crouched outside a small opening ‘I thought mates called back. The jack was passed Sbetween two concrete slabs, trying to down to help prop up a tunnel to the at ‘billionaire class’ reach a teenage boy trapped 10 feet youth. Then came a miner’s lamp and inside. glow sticks, small blades to cut through BY PAUL KANE He had been there for five days since I was metal, and finally medicine to counter AND PHILIP RUCKER Saturday’s massive earthquake, un- the “crushing” effect on limbs with no harmed but alone and unable to move, circulation. He seems an unlikely presi- until Nepali police finally heard his voice “He hasn’t been crushed, but he’s been dential candidate — an ex-hippie, calling for help. about lying there for five days without mov- septuagenarian socialist from Atop the pile of concrete chunks and ing,” Hanfling explained. the liberal reaches of Vermont tangled cables, Dan Hanfling, a medical Long minutes passed. Dozens of news who rails, in his thick Brooklyn team manager from Fairfax County, photographers, alerted to the mounting accent, rumpled suit and frizzy shouted a stream of questions and drama, tried to crowd near the opening, pile of white hair, against the comments to the men below, which to die’ but scores of Nepali police officers “billionaire class” taking over the MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST included Nepali police, Los Angeles pushed them back, and Chris Schaff, a country. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who County rescue workers and 15 other Fairfax fire battalion chief, warned them But there was Sen. Bernie is running for president, plans members of various emergency squads Fairfax team helps rescue not to set off a landslide. Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday to play aggressively in caucuses. from Fairfax. Suddenly, a local police officer near launching his campaign for the “We’ve got the IV set ready right here. Nepali teen trapped in the opening raised his hand for silence. White House — and representing Sanders lifted off his long-shot What else do you need?” called down quake rubble for 5 days The chatter in Nepali and English died a challenge to the Democratic bid with a news conference out- Hanfling, one of 130 American rescue NEPAL CONTINUED ON A10 front-runner, Hillary Rodham side the U.S. Capitol on Thursday workers sent here after the quake as part Clinton, as she fights to win over by declaring war on corporate of the U.S. Agency for International BY PAMELA CONSTABLE Perilous paternity: Nepal’s surrogacy the kind of left-leaning Demo- America and billionaire cam- Development’s Disaster Assistance IN KATHMANDU, NEPAL rules pull gay Israelis into danger. A11 crats inclined to heed Sanders’s paign donors. He also landed fiery call to action. SANDERS CONTINUED ON A4 FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015 KLMNO EZ M2 From Page One A9

ELEVATED LEAD LEVELS IN CHILDREN CHILDREN IN POVERTY VACANT RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES Push to court Latinos alarms Democrats 3.1% 1.2% 54.8% 33.4% 34.3% 8.8% Amid the dangers in Freddie Gray’s life, lead paint loomed large SANDTOWN- BALTIMORE CITY SANDTOWN- BALTIMORE CITY SANDTOWN- BALTIMORE CITY Koch-funded initiative offers driving classes and tax-prep help in Spanish WINCHESTER AVERAGE WINCHESTER AVERAGE WINCHESTER AVERAGE LEAD FROM A1 were born two months prema- “The real tragedy of lead bored ambitions of getting into turely to a mother, Gloria Darden, the trade. Based on 2009-2013 data from Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, for children ages 0 to 6 when he was a child and living in who said in a deposition she But even that seemed a stretch BY MARY JORDAN is that the damage it this house, according to a 2008 began using heroin when she was to some. “I don’t know much AND ED O’KEEFE lead-poisoning lawsuit filed by 23. Freddie lived in the hospital does is irreparable.” about brick masonry because I las vegas — For Republicans, Lead poisoning is ‘toxic legacy’ that Gray and his siblings against the his first months of life until he am not very handy myself, but, property owner. The suit resulted gained five pounds. Dan Levy, assistant professor of you know, is he someone that I the road to warming the hearts pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University and winning the votes of Latinos still haunts Freddie Gray’s Baltimore in an undisclosed settlement. It wasn’t long after that he was would want to plan my walk- may begin at a Las Vegas flea Reports of Gray’s history with given the first of many blood way?” said psychologist Neil Hoff- lead come at a time when the city tests, court records show. The test man, who interviewed Gray as market. BY TERRENCE MCCOY hardwood floor, according to a go up the steps,” Gray recalled in On a recent morning, inside 2008 lawsuit filed in Baltimore 2009. “There was a couple of and nation are still trying to came in May of 1990, when the tion, the amount of lead in his part of the lead-poisoning law- the Eastern Indoor Swapmeet baltimore — The house where City Circuit Court. The front walls that wasn’t painted all the understand the full ramifications family was living in a home on system had fallen. But he and his suit. “No.” Las Vegas, a group funded by the Freddie Gray’s life changed for- windowsills shed white strips of way, peeled. ... And like the of lead poisoning. Advocates and Fulton Avenue in West Baltimore. sisters began developing prob- The compounding setbacks billionaire Koch brothers helped ever sits at the end of a long line of paint. windows, paint was peeling off studies say it can diminish cogni- Even at such a young age, his lems. didn’t come as a surprise to Levy, 250 Latinos — some of them abandoned rowhouses in one of It was worst in the front room, the windows.” tive function, increase aggression blood contained more than 10 His sister, Fredericka, devel- who said he has seen numerous undocumented immigrants — this city’s poorest neighborhoods. where Gray bedded down most Before Freddie Gray was in- and ultimately exacerbate the cy- micrograms of lead per deciliter oped issues with aggression, Gray children in Baltimore’s ghettos — pass the Nevada driver’s test. The interior of that North Carey nights with his mother, he re- jured in police custody last cle of poverty that is already of blood — double the level at said in a 2009 deposition. “She sometimes called “lead kids” — The LIBRE Initiative, an ex- Street house, cluttered with called years later in a deposition. month, before he died and this exceedingly difficult to break. which the Center for Disease Con- still got problems like that,” he whose lives have followed a simi- panding grass-roots organiza- couches and potted plants, is “There was a big hole when you city was plunged into rioting, his It is nonetheless hard to know trol urges additional testing. said. “She still do. She always was lar trajectory. tion now operating in nine states, lacquered in a fresh coat of paint life was defined by failures in the whether Gray’s problems were Three months later, his blood had the aggressive one. She liked to Still, the relationship between organized the four-hour test prep that makes the living room glow. Freddie Gray report submitted classroom, run-ins with the law exclusively borne of lead poison- nearly 30 micrograms. In June fight all the time and all of that.” poverty and lead poisoning re- session to teach the rules of the But it wasn’t always this way. Investigators think Gray suffered and an inability to focus on any- ing or were the result of other 1991, when Gray was 22 months Equally troubling was the mains difficult to parse. Was it the road in Spanish — no tome y JOHN GURZINSKI FOR THE WASHINGTON POST When Gray lived here between serious head injuries while in a thing for very long. socioeconomic factors as well. old, his blood carried 37 micro- children’s performance in the lead poisoning that resigned Gray maneje (no drinking and driv- Paula Hernandez, 46, helps a friend with a Spanish copy of the 1992 and 1996, paint chips flaked transport van. Police also learn the Many of those problems began From birth, his was a life of grams. classroom. The twins and an and his family to a life on the LATINOS CONTINUED ON A15 Nevada Driver’s Handbook at a free four-hour course in Las Vegas. off the walls and littered the van made four stops, not three. B1 LEAD CONTINUED ON A9 intractable poverty that would “Jesus,” Dan Levy, an assistant older sister were diagnosed with margins? Or would they have have been challenging to over- professor of pediatrics at Johns either ADHD or attention- ended up there anyway? come. Hopkins University who has deficit disorder ADD, and Fred- Those were questions that Equally difficult to know is the FAMILY PHOTO studied the effects of lead poison- ericka’s academic career was Brown, who now lives in Gray’s battery technology into ed problems there and total number of children lead has A photo from a court filing in a lead-poisoning lawsuit shows young ing on youths, gasped when told “riddled with suspensions,” old house, mulled over Wednes- IN THE NEWS homes and businesses testing was halted. B1 INSIDE poisoned. That’s because the de- Freddie Gray and the peeling paint in the house where he lived. of Gray’s levels. “The fact that Mr. court records say. day afternoon. An attorney sends as part of an elaborate Republicans forced a clared threshold for how much Gray had these high levels of lead It wasn’t any better for Freddie, her weekly notices alerting her to SPORTS A Justice Department plan to reshape the vote in the House to WEEKEND lead a body can safely tolerate has the Sandtown-Winchester neigh- swings. They have anxiety.” Like in all likelihood affected his abili- who never graduated high school the dangers of lead poisoning and The Redskins selected pilot program aims to power grid. A13 strike down a D.C. law The ’80s are back shifted dramatically over the borhood in West Baltimore where her son, she said. She raised him ty to think and to self-regulate and was often absent from his asking whether she or other resi- Brandon Scherff, an expand the use of body Even as fuel costs fall, that forbids discrimina­ A preview of summer years as researchers have come to Freddie Gray lived. Here, most in a house peppered with shards and profoundly affected his cog- studies because of truancy or dents want to sue over the alleged Iowa offensive lineman, cameras worn by police strong airline profits tion over reproductive flicks, many of which are better understand its dangers. houses were built decades ago, at of paint. He must have eaten nitive ability to process informa- suspensions. “All the schools that damage they experienced years in the NFL draft. Quar­ officers. A16 haven’t translated into choices. B3 set in the Reagan era. Decades ago, city health officials a time when paint manufacturers some, Brown said. She wonders tion.” I went to, I was in special educa- ago. terback Jameis Winston cheaper seats. A14 tested for blood lead levels that hailed lead as a cheap additive. whether she, too, should pursue Levy added, “And the real trag- tion,” Gray said. He ultimately got “I can see it,” she said, recalling of Florida State was the THE ECONOMY THE WORLD STYLE were higher than 20 micrograms The effect of that lead, which litigation and try to collect a “lead edy of lead is that the damage it arrested more than a dozen the houses she once inhabited. “I top pick. D1 Miles McEvoy of the THE REGION A Buddhist monk is Stop, thief! of lead per deciliter of blood. Congress effectively banned in check.” does is irreparable.” times, with convictions involving was sweeping and mopping up USDA, in an interview, In Anacostia, Presi- leading a campaign to How interior designers Now, it is believed that anything 1978, has been profound on Freddie Gray’s path toward By the time Gray and his family the sale or possession of heroin or chips of paint all the time. I higher than 5 micrograms can THE NATION weighed in on the food dent Obama launched overhaul Thailand’s reli­ and home sellers thwart Gray’s neighborhood. Statistics such litigation began months af- moved into the hovel on North marijuana. He eventually served believe my anxiety comes from cripple a child’s cognitive devel- A study of veterans’ industry and consumer a plan that will expand gious institutions. A6 light-fingered visitors. C1 between 2009 and 2013 showed ter his birth in August 1989. He Carey Street, which became the two years behind bars. There, he that. We got poisoned.” opment. that more than 3 percent of chil- and his twin sister, Fredericka, subject of the subsequent litiga- learned brick masonry and har- civic involvement demand for “organic” needy students’ digital British voters asked [email protected] “In 1993, we found that 13,000 dren younger than 6 had possibly shows former service products. A14 access to books. B8 party leaders combat­ PAUL BURNS/CULTURA VIA AURORA PHOTOS BUSINESS NEWS...... A12 kids in Baltimore had been poi- dangerous levels of lead in their members vote and vol­ Space tourism blasted Fernando Umanzor ive and hostile questions CLASSIFIEDS...... D12 soned with lead, but we weren’t blood, more than double the fig- unteer at higher rates COMICS...... C4 How fast we age Researchers said they have one step closer to reali­ and Abreham Gebre, during TV appearances (DETAILS, B2) collecting at the levels that we are ure for the entire city. than non­veterans. A16 ty after a successful test close friends who live in ahead of a down­to­the­ LOTTERIES...... B3 identified a potential driver of aging, which OBITUARIES...... B5 today,” said Ruth Ann Norton, the Lead poisoning has been an An Atlanta judge re- the District, were both wire vote. A8 DAILY CODE 9 6 3 6 could have implications for longevity. A3 rocket launch by Jeff OPINION PAGES...... A17 executive director of the Coali- especially cruel scourge on Afri- duced the sentences of Bezos’s company Blue awarded Gates college Thirty high-profile TELEVISION...... C3 tion to End Childhood Lead Poi- can American communities. War powers The push to give President three former educators Origin. A12 scholarships. B1 women will hold peace CONTENT © 2015 soning. “If we had, we would have “Nearly 99.9 percent of my clients who were convicted of Tesla chief executive The head of the Dis- events in North and The Washington Post / Year 138, No. 147 found 30,000 poisoned kids.” were black,” said Saul E. Kerpel- Obama congressional authorization is fading participating in a test­ Elon Musk is steering trict’s DNA lab re­ South Korea in a bid to Overall, more than 93,000 chil- man, a Baltimore lawyer who said cheating scandal. A4 his electric car firm’s signed after auditors cit­ ease tensions. A8 amid deep partisan disagreements. A2 Printed using recycled fiber dren with lead poisoning have he has litigated more than 4,000 been added to the state’s Depart- lead-poisoning lawsuits over ment of the Environment lead three decades. “That’s the sad fact registries over the past two dec- to life in the ghetto that the only ades, a time frame in which Balti- living conditions people can af- more and other cities have sub- ford will likely poison their kids. stantially reduced the number of ... If you only have $250 per houses with paint containing month, you’re going to get a lead. run-down, dilapidated house “A child who was poisoned where the landlord hasn’t in- with lead is seven times more spected it the entire time they’ve likely to drop out of school and six owned it.” times more likely to end up in the Residents of Sandtown and juvenile justice system,” Norton other poor pockets of Baltimore said. She called lead poisoning now reflect on whether their lives Baltimore’s “toxic legacy” — a would have turned out differently still-unfolding tragedy with if they hadn’t grown up inside which she says the city has yet to houses with lead paint. come to terms. Those kids who “All these kids that grew up in were poisoned decades ago are those houses, they all have CHARITY DAY now adults. And the trauma asso- ADHD,” said Rosalyn Brown, re- ciated with lead poisoning ferring to attention-deficit hyper- SHOP SMART DO GOOD “creates too much of a burden on activity disorder. Brown has lived a community,” she said. in Gray’s neighborhood for dec- The burden weighs heaviest on ades and now occupies the house TOMORROW, MAY 2 • 9AM–10PM the poorest communities, such as he once lived in. “They have mood AT EVERY LORD & TAYLOR STORE TO BENEFIT WOMEN’S HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015

In Baltimore, black residents are lured by fast money to sell decades of settlement payments for dimes on the dollar Cashing in off poor lead-poisoning victims

by Terrence McCoy in baltimore had settled a lead-paint lawsuit against one Baltimore slumlord in 2007, granting he letter arrived in April, a mishmash Rose a monthly check of nearly $1,000, of strange numbers and words. This with yearly increases. Those payments Tat first did not alarm Rose. Most let- were guaranteed for 35 years. ters are that way for her — frustrating puz- “It’s been sold?” Rose asked, memories zles she can’t solve. Rose, who can scarcely soon flashing. read or write, calls herself a “lead kid.” Her She remembered a nice, white man. childhood home, where lead paint chips He had called her one day on the telephone blanketed her bedsheets like snowflakes, months after she’d squeaked through “affected me really bad,” she says. “In every- high school with a “one-point something” thing I do.” grade-point average. His name was Bren- She says she can’t work a professional dan, though she said he never mentioned job. She can’t live alone. And, she says, she his last name. He told her she could make surely couldn’t understand this letter. some fast money. He told her he worked So on that April day, the 20-year-old for a local company named Access Fund- says, she asked her mom to give it a look. ing. He talked to her as a friend. Her mother glanced at the words, then Rose, who court records say suffers back at her daughter. “What does this from “irreversible brain damage,” didn’t mean all of your payments were sold to a have a lot of friends. She didn’t trust many third party?” her mother recalls saying. people. Growing up off North Avenue in The distraught woman said the let- West Baltimore, she said she’s seen people ter, written by her insurance company, killed. referred to Rose’s lead checks. The family But Brendan was different. He bought WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 2

MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST

her a fancy meal at Longhorn Steakhouse, she said, and guaranteed a vacation for the family. He seemed like a gentleman, some- one she said she could trust. One day soon after, a notary arrived at her house and slid her a 12-page “pur- chase” agreement. Rose was alone. But she wasn’t worried. She said she spoke to a law- AMANDA VOISARD FOR THE WASHINGTON POST yer named Charles E. Smith on the phone TOP: Abandoned buildings in Baltimore, about the contract. She felt confident in which has had a glut of lead-paint lawsuits. ABOVE: Rose won such a suit, but her deal what it stated. She was selling some checks with a third party will cost her thousands. in the distant future for some quick money, $62,637 $573,615 right? The amount that The cumulative value The reality, however, was substantially Access Funding paid Rose of the payments. different. Rose sold everything to Access for 35 years of settlement payments. Funding — 420 monthly lead checks between 2017 and 2052. They amounted to a total of nearly $574,000 and had a pres- WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 3

ent value of roughly $338,000. highest level of professionalism,” took Rose In return, Access Funding paid her out to eat, and he disputed that she’d been less than $63,000. promised a vacation. “We’re trying to bring better value to people,” Borkowski contin- ‘They fall through a crack’ ued. “. . . We really do try to get people the Rose, who spoke to The Washington best deals.” Post on the condition that her full name But to critics, Access Funding is part not be used, had just tumbled into the lit- of an industry that profits off the poor tle-noticed, effectively unregulated nether- and disabled. And Baltimore has become world of structured settlements. a prime target. It’s here that one teen — Traditional settlements are paid in one diagnosed with “mild mental retardation,” immediate lump sum. But these structured court records show — sold her payments agreements often deliver monthly pay- through 2030 in four deals and is now ments across decades to protect vulnerable homeless. It’s here that companies blanket recipients from immediately spending the certain neighborhoods in advertisements, money. Since 1975, insurance companies searching for a potentially lucrative type of have committed an estimated $350 billion inhabitant, whose stories recall the legacy to structured settlements. This has given of Freddie Gray. rise to a secondary market in which dozens Before his April death after being of firms compete to purchase the rights to severely injured in police custody, before those payments for a fraction of their face this hollowed-out city plunged into rioting, value. the life of Freddie Gray was a case study What happens in these deals is a mat- in the effect of lead paint on poor blacks. ter of perspective. To industry advocates, The lead poisoning Gray suffered as a child the transactions get money to people who may have contributed to his difficulties need it now. They keep desperate families with learning, truancy and arrests — all of off the streets, pay medical bills, put kids it culminating in a 2008 lead-paint law- through school. suit and a windfall of cash locked inside a “What we do is provide equity for those structured settlement. By late 2013, Gray people to buy homes,” said Access Funding was striking deals with Access Funding. chief executive Michael Borkowski. He said People like Gray who have suffered his organization had no reason to think lead poisoning as children are especially Rose was cognitively impaired, pointing vulnerable to predatory transactions. to her high school degree, driver’s license Many are impulsive and mentally disabled, and written documents in her name. He but not so much that the law regards them said Access Funding has no record show- as incapable of acting on their own behalf, ing that Brendan, whom he praised for “the as long as they’re 18 or older. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 4

LANCE ROSENFIELD FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

FAMILY PHOTOS FROM COURT FILINGS Baltimore’s Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, top, where court records show Freddie Gray’s family had lived in buildings with lead paint. Freddie Gray, above left, whose April death sparked protests, and his siblings were awarded structured settlements from their lead-paint lawsuits. Gray and his sisters signed six contracts with Access Funding; the family now burns with resentment. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 5

“A lot of them can barely able people selling structured read,” said Saul E. Kerpel- settlements. In 2000, Mary- man, who estimates he has land inked the Structured defended more than 4,000 Settlement Protection Act, victims of lead poisoning, which enumerated a series of nearly all of them black. requirements. First, a seller “They have limited capacity. must seek the counsel of an But they fall through a crack. independent professional If they were severely disabled adviser. Then the proposed enough, you could file a court deal must go before a county petition to have a trustee judge, who decides whether manage their property. But that agreement reflects the they’re not disabled enough.” seller’s best interests. Over the past two But today, critics say, that decades, state legislatures and measure is failing. “There are the U.S. Congress have passed weaknesses and ways peo- measures to protect vulner- ple can circumvent it,” said WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 6

AMANDA VOISARD FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Eric Vaughn, executive director of the National Structured Settlements Trade Association, which represents companies and lawyers working in the industry. “And these companies are getting around the intents of the law. . . . And when that happens, peo- ple get hammered.” A Washington Post review of thousands of pages of court records and interviews with industry insid- ers and eight victims of lead poison- ing have revealed these loopholes in Baltimore. Access Funding, located in Chevy Chase, isn’t the biggest player in the industry. But the company’s court MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST Rose, top, who court records say has “irreversible brain damage,” sold settlement payments to Access Funding. Lawyer Scott Blumenfeld, above, has worked in the industry. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 7

documents nonetheless illuminate the prices, which are lower than the payments’ mechanics of this trade, as well as how lit- present value because various factors — tle scrutiny it receives. The firm has filed such as a life-contingency clause that stops nearly 200 structured settlement pur- payments if the holder dies — diminish chases in Maryland since 2013. A review their worth. of two-thirds of those cases, which primar- “When you get all the way until 2052, ily funnel through one judge’s courtroom that’s pretty far out there,” he said, adding in Prince George’s County Circuit Court, that his company, which does 80 percent shows nearly three-fourths involved vic- of its work outside Maryland, survives only tims of lead poisoning. by offering better deals than other firms. Every case spells out the deal’s worth. Still, Borkowski urged stricter legisla- It lists the aggregate value of the lead vic- tion and more oversight. “These questions tim’s payments, their present value and the you raise touch on fundamental things we agreed purchase price. A random survey are going to be doing differently now,” he of 52 of those deals shows Access Funding said. “We want to secure ourselves in the generally offers to pay around 33 cents on future from any potential questions like the present value of a dollar. Sometimes, this again, so we can say, ‘No, that’s not us.’ ” it offers more. And sometimes, much less. One 24-year-old lead victim sold nearly ‘They sucker you in’ $327,000 worth of payments, which had The court proceeding that would alter a present value of $179,000, for less than the futures of Freddie Gray and his siblings $16,200 — or about 9 cents on the dollar. took place an hour’s drive south from their Another relinquished $256,000 worth of home in Baltimore, in the town of Upper payments, which had a present value of Marlboro. At stake were hundreds of thou- $166,000, for $35,000 — or about 21 cents sands of dollars, but none of the Grays on the dollar. attended the hearing. Taken together, the sample shows The issue — and the company — was Access Funding petitioned to buy roughly familiar to the presiding judge, Herman C. $6.9 million worth of future payments — Dawson. Access Funding has petitioned his which had a present value of $5.3 million court more than 160 times since 2013 to — for around $1.7 million. purchase structured settlement payments. Presented with these findings, Dawson has approved those requests 90 Borkowski said Access Funding doesn’t percent of the time. target lead victims and that Baltimore’s Freddie Gray, awarded a structured glut of lead-paint lawsuits has artificially settlement as a result of his lead-paint law- inflated that aspect of its business. He suit, now wanted the same. “Being debt said interested investors set the purchase free will be a great help,” said an affidavit WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 8

that Gray signed. “It will take a lot of stress The path that led the Gray siblings off of me and will help improve my credit into these deals began decades ago, inside rating so that I can make larger purchases a series of poorly maintained, lead-painted in the future.” tenements in the neighborhood of Sand- Gray had agreed to sell $146,000 town-Winchester, court records show. worth of his structured settlement, valued “They told us to move out of the at $94,000, to Access Funding for around house,” Shipley recalled one lead-paint $18,300. His sisters wanted almost­ the inspector advising the family. But where same exact deal, which in all would relin- could they go? Every house they lived in quish $435,000 of the Gray siblings’ settle- between 1988 and 1996 had lead paint. ment — valued at around $280,000 — for Each of the siblings’ lead levels soared to about $54,000, or less than 20 cents on at least 36 micrograms of lead per deci- the dollar of its present-day value. liter of blood. This was considered high No one objected to the proposed deals. then, when the city annually produced Dawson adjudicated the petitions, along thousands of lead-poisoned children. It’s with two other deals involving victims considered even higher now. The Centers of lead poisoning, within three minutes, for Disease Control and Prevention today according to a recording of the hearing. describes any level above 5 micrograms as “The matter is closed,” Dawson said at the ­“elevated,” and on Tuesday, federal authori- hearing. He declined to comment. ties pledged $3.7 million to eliminate what The Gray family, which signed six remains of Baltimore’s lead-paint problem. contracts with Access Funding, now The study of lead’s effects on the body burns with resentment. The kids were in a remains an evolving science. Used as an tough spot financially, stepfather Richard artificial sweetener in ancient Rome, lead Shipley said. Shipley said he tried to dis- later became a cheap manufacturing addi- suade them from taking the deal but failed. tive. But lead never lost its sweetness — a “They sucker you in. . . . They didn’t know poison candy irresistible to children. Sci- they were giving up so much for so little,” entists once assumed the body could with- he said. Now, he said, the lead checks have stand a fair amount of lead, which gov- stopped, and Access Funding won’t return ernment authorities banned in residential their calls. paint in 1978. But researchers now say any Access Funding, Borkowski said, has a trace of lead, which children absorb by eat- “good” relationship with the Grays. “In fact, ing paint chips and breathing paint dust, we have had dialogue since Freddie’s pass- can cripple cognitive development. ing in which we provided our condolences The Grays eventually exhibited “neu- and sent flowers to the family,” Borkowski rocognitive deficits,” records say. Psycholo- wrote in an e-mail. gists also discovered those same “deficits” WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 9

in Rose and her siblings. Her blood lead stantially weaker” than in most states. For level reached 31 and inflicted “perma- example, it doesn’t require that settlement nent and severe brain damage,” according recipients appear in court, as Illinois’ law to court papers, severing her capacity to does. It also doesn’t make purchasing com- “enjoy a normal life.” panies file their petitions in the seller’s So the Grays — as Rose did, as thou- county of residence, as in New York, Ore- sands of other families did — sued their gon and other states. landlord, settling in 2010. The Grays then Critics say such conditions can give decided on a course that six lead-paint law- rise to something called “forum shopping,” yers say they often counsel clients to take. in which purchasing companies seek out The Grays structured their settlements, an less-scrutinous judges. Those firms “find arrangement recommended by insurance the squeaky wheels, where things aren’t companies, disability advocates and even as enforced as much . . . and the judge Congress. simply looks at the affidavit,” said John “I try to convince my clients that tak- Darer, who operates a blog monitoring ing a structured settlement might be in the industry. their best interest,” Kerpelman said. “They Petitions involving Maryland’s lead have no experience managing money, are victims cluster in Montgomery, Howard brain compromised, and history shows and Prince George’s counties — anywhere they’ll likely run through a large cash set- but Baltimore City, the jurisdiction where tlement in a short time.” most of those lead victims live. Access But poverty is expensive. Disability is Funding says it has overwhelmingly filed expensive. Debt mounts. Forfeiting future in Prince George’s County because that’s payments for immediate cash can seem where their attorney’s office is located. like a painful necessity. Maryland’s court system also makes That’s how 42-year-old Tarsha Simms it easy to find the right clientele. Its case recently reconciled her decision to sell a search puts lead-paint lawsuits into their portion of her daughter’s settlement to own category, meaning a few keystrokes Access Funding. “I do regret it,” Simms can call forth thousands of names. This said. “But if it wasn’t for this deal, we would unique confluence of factors constitutes be on the street right now.” the “perfect storm of bad stuff,” said Earl To balance clients’ vulnerabilities with Nesbitt, executive director of the National purchasing companies’ desire for profit, Association of Settlement Purchasers. most state legislatures called upon county But it isn’t bad for everyone. For the judges to decide the cases. But Maryland’s savvy operative, someone willing to travel law, according to longtime structured deep into Baltimore’s poorest neighbor- settlement expert Craig Ulman, is “sub- hoods, this can be a lucrative trade. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 10

And for a time, it was for Scott Blu- try came in 2005, notarizing contracts for menfeld. a Bethesda settlement purchasing com- pany. Over the next five years, he rapped An insider’s view on doors in Baltimore’s toughest blocks to He likes risks. He’s partial to large, secure hundreds of signatures. shiny watches. He has played so much In 2010, Blumenfeld became an inde- poker, peering over cards, shuffling chips, pendent professional adviser and started that he’s developed carpal tunnel syn- counseling sellers before their deals went drome in his right arm and now wears a to court. Maryland legislation holds that large, black brace. He drives a late-model such a person — who can neither be paid blue Audi, which he says has made him by nor affiliated with a purchasing firm nervous when driving through certain Bal- — must “render advice concerning the timore neighborhoods at night to meet a [deal’s] legal, tax and financial implica- lead-paint victim. tions.” The sellers are supposed to pay their “I never roll up on someone without adviser. calling first,” he said. Sounds complicated. It wasn’t, Blu- Blumenfeld, who has worked hun- menfeld said. “I was doing most of them dreds of settlement transfer contracts, on the phone,” he said. He asked whether said he never intended to get into this sort they understood the “legal, tax and finan- of work. He grew up in Rockville, got his cial implications” of the deal. “It would undergraduate degree in Madison, Wis., take less than a minute. I didn’t go over the then entered the University of Baltimore terms of the contract. That wasn’t my func- School of Law. While there, he says he met tion. I don’t think any of the other lawyers other law students who went on to form do that, or else they would never get any the legal foundation for some of the area’s repeat business.” biggest structured settlement purchasing Charles E. Smith is another lawyer firms. who does this work. A review of 52 Access Many settled in one place, he said. Funding deals revealed that Smith worked “Around Bethesda, there’s a whole concen- as the independent adviser on every one. tration of these structured settlement com- Smith entered the same letter in every case panies, but no [settlement recipients] are stating that the lead victim understood the in Bethesda. Zero. None. Like, I’ve never deal’s “legal, tax and financial implications” heard of one in Bethesda,” Blumenfeld and that he was not “affiliated” withAccess ­ said. “But they’re not doing business with Funding. Borkowski said his company has anyone in Bethesda. No one even in Mont- no contractual or business relationship gomery County. It’s all about Baltimore.” with Smith, declining to answer additional Blumenfeld’s first role in the indus- questions. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 11

Smith said such transactions “rep- Access Funding accused Blumenfeld of resent an extremely small percentage of interference with business practices and my practice. I have no business partner- unjust enrichment. ships with any company in the structured Around that same time, the Maryland settlement purchasing industry. . . . In all Attorney Grievance Commission accused instances, I am directly contacted by the Blumenfeld of employing a paralegal with [settlement recipient.] . . . I’m not exactly a “substantial criminal history” whom sure how [they] come to me. . . . My inde- an elderly client gave power of attorney. pendence is in no way compromised or at The board also alleged that Blumenfeld risk.” “failed to properly maintain trust account Critics condemned the practice of an records” and client ledgers. It suspended independent adviser working deal after him in July last year for at least six months deal for the same company. “It’s a total con- for improper supervision and record main- flict of interest,” lawyer Kerpelman said. tenance. “He’s doing business for them and with Those legal issues have stalled Blu- them all the time. Imagine if he ever said, menfeld’s work in the structured settle- ‘No, she can’t read. She can’t understand ment industry, he said. But even now, what she’s signing.’ ” That partnership, he he said he still wonders at opportunities said, would evaporate. missed. One person, especially, still crosses But Blumenfeld said perceived con- his thoughts. He tried to get in touch with flicts of interest weren’t the only matters him. He sent him letters. that discomforted him. “A 10-year-old does But Blumenfeld never did connect not have the mental ability to sell these with Vincent Maurice Jones Jr. payments, but you see this person is 20, but he has the mental brain capacity of a ‘They gave me pennies’ 10-year-old. . . . So does this annuitant have Sunlight spilled across the silent street the ability to sell these payments?” in West Baltimore. But inside one of its So Blumenfeld said he adopted a third few occupied homes, everything was dark. and final role, this time as something of a Black curtains hung across the windows. broker. He shopped around clients between The living room was strewn with pawn slips several purchasing companies, he said, to and a pamphlet advising what to do upon secure better deals. One client was lead suffering a gunshot wound. And anchor- victim Kevin Owens, who wanted to sell ing its mantel was a cookie tin emblazoned hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of with the words “Access Funding.” payments. He committed to ­Access Fund- Vincent Maurice Jones Jr., who didn’t ing but backed out after Blumenfeld spoke graduate from high school, was playing with him. In a lawsuit dismissed in March, video games upstairs in his bedroom. He WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 12

quickly tired of questions. than just walking down the street.” What happened with Access Funding? But an affidavit written byAccess ­ “You feeling me, they got all that money, Funding and signed by Jones in 2013 said and I didn’t even get a lot.” How much Jones wanted to sell $90,000 of his settle- money was in his settlement? “What settle- ment for $26,000 to “purchase a vehicle.” ment?” The money, the affidavit said, would also Jones, 25, came of age in a house on be used to “look for work and also need Mosher Street, which today stands aban- furniture, clothes, school supplies for my doned and boarded up. Lead paint so young daughter.” infested its interior that only a few walls But Jones has a son, not a daughter. were free of it, according to records filed And Jones has never had a driver’s license. in a lead-paint lawsuit that Jones settled in Within months of buying a Ford sedan, 2008. “Just a lead pit,” was what one Balti- Jones collected four tickets for operating more pediatrician called it in a deposition. a vehicle without a license. That car today When Jones was 2 years old, his blood bakes in the sun, unused. carried 16 micrograms — triple the level Months later, Jones struck another considered elevated — before shooting to deal with Access Funding. This time, he 28. Then it dropped to 16 before rising to signed two contracts. One relinquished 22. Even at age 8, lead still coursed at high $327,000 worth of future payments, with levels in his bloodstream. Soon, he was a present value of $179,000, for $16,000 repeating grades, failing classes. in return. Another deal, later dismissed, One psychologist, court records show, offered $34,000 for a stream of payments doubted his employability, citing his “severe that totaled $336,000 and had a present learning difficulties.” He put his lifetime value of $195,000. In all, Jones seemed economic loss at more than $1.5 million. willing to sell $663,000 of his settlement Another medical professional couldn’t for $50,000. determine whether Jones, who repeated The official reason stated in the two several grades, was “severely disabled” or spring 2014 affidavits was puzzling. Jones, just “generally disabled.” who had just bought the house he and his “His mother essentially handles his mother share using money from a struc- medical regimen, takes him to doctors and tured-settlement deal, hadn’t needed to pay makes sure he gets his medications,” pedia- rent for months. But he signed an affida- trician Michael A. Conte said in a deposi- vit compiled by Access Funding saying he tion. “She, obviously, takes care of all the intended “to purchase [a] down payment financial matters. And she transports him, on a house. Because I am currently unem- or his girlfriend transports him, when he ployed, renting is expensive and detracts needs to travel to places that involves more from my ability to provide suitable housing WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 13

for myself and my dependent.” The other making the rounds on Facebook. “He got affidavit said: “Renting is an expense I no killed over nothing,” she said. longer wish to incur.” Rose said she hates it here. She doesn’t Burkowski, Access Funding’s chief want to stay long. The funeral processions executive, said he could only speculate as remind her of everything she was happy to what happened. “We take what is told to to leave behind when her family bought us,” he said. “These are people, respectable a large home just outside Baltimore with people who have honest needs. If they say settlement money. The move brought they need a house, it’s not Access Fund- her within a few miles of Heritage High ing’s position to challenge what that client School, where she secured the diploma she is representing to us. We’re trying to help now calls her greatest achievement. these people.” That accomplishment, Rose said, now It’s help that Jones said he could have feels far away. One afternoon, she suddenly done without. “The whole thing’s a scam,” began to cry. She often tells people she’s said Jones, claiming Access Funding made “not dumb.” She just needs a little extra up why he needed the money. “All that time to understand things. But right now, money I got is gone. They gave me pen- saddled by the weight of decisions made nies.” and contracts signed, she felt less sure of So Jones has decided to fight. He’s that conviction. working with an attorney who’s consider- Believing she still had money, Rose in ing litigation against Access Funding. And March again tried to sell some settlement he’s not the only one. payments. But the petition, filed in April, was later dismissed when it emerged that Tears, then litigation all her money was gone. It was around that “There it is,” Rose said, pointing at a time that she also stitched together what large structure looming just blocks from had happened with Access Funding. In where the CVS burned during the Fred- May, she called lawyers to see whether any- die Gray protests. This is where her lead- thing could be done. painted, childhood house once stood. In early June, Rose sued Smith, the “They knocked it down,” Rose said. “It’s attorney who had worked as Rose’s inde- gone now.” pendent adviser in the Access Funding It was a Saturday afternoon, and West deal. Smith “has signed at least 40 identical Baltimore was alive with funeral proces- or substantially similar letters under simi- sions. The city had just undergone its lar circumstances in other petitions where bloodiest month in four decades — 43 shot Access Funding was seeking a transfer of dead — and Rose pulled out her phone to a structured settlement,” states the lawsuit, show a grisly image of a dead black man filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court. The WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 14

lawsuit, filed by attorneys Raymond Mar- “. . . This general rule applies even where shall and Brian Brown, accuses Smith of the individual signing the document is legal malpractice and intentional misrep- ‘functionally illiterate.’ ” resentation. Rose now works for a local home care It says Smith failed to disclose his service, providing companionship to an ongoing relationship with Access­ Fund- elderly woman, she said. In between shifts ing to Rose and neither met her in person and helping her brother with his kids, she nor inquired about her intellectual capa- said she tries not to think about what has bilities. “No reasonable attorney acting on happened to her settlement. Still, she said behalf of Rose would have recommended she feels hunted, “like a target or some- the proposed transaction,” it says. thing.” Smith argued in court papers that Settlement purchasing companies, Rose’s lawsuit is “fundamentally inconsis- she said, pester her with phone calls and tent” with her earlier position and warrants letters. Just the other day, Rose said she dismissal. Rose, he said, signed a contract opened the mailbox and there was a letter stating her desire to sell the payments. She from Access Funding. It promised her fast signed an affidavit saying she’d spoken to money. All Rose had to do was pick up the an independent adviser. “A party who signs phone and call. a contract is presumed to have read and [email protected] understood its terms,” the response stated. ABCDE MD DC VA M2 V1 V2 V3 V4

Sunny 84/67 • Tomorrow: Sunny 85/68 • details, B8 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 washingtonpost.com • $1.50 An early rally on Wall Street falls apart late DOW DROPS 1% IN SURPRISING REVERSAL Interest-rate cut in China fails to calm markets

BY DREW HARWELL AND SIMON DENYER

U.S. stocks plunged in the last hour of trading Tuesday to wipe out a day-long rally, adding fresh uncertainty to markets that had seemed to be on the rebound. The wild swing highlighted in- vestors’ anxieties about an expan- MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST siveChineseslowdownandhinted at fault lines in a U.S. economy otherwise considered strong. In Baltimore, black residents are lured by fast money to sell The surprising setback decades of settlement payments for dimes on the dollar dropped the Dow Jones industrial average more than 650 points from its midday peak, its biggest reversal since 2008, and pushed the index of 30 blue-chip stocks Cashing in off poor down 204 points, or about 1 per- cent, to 15,666.44. Investors had spent most of the day climbing back from a dismal lead-poisoning victims Monday and from several days of carnage in Chinese stock markets. China’s central bank on Tuesday BY TERRENCE MCCOY IN BALTIMORE cut interest rates in a bid to stimu- late the country’s economy, and he letter arrived in April, a mishmash of strange numbers and for a while, that appeared to reas- words. This at first did not alarm Rose. Most letters are that way sure European and U.S. markets. for her — frustrating puzzles she can’t solve. Rose, who can But by late afternoon, Wall scarcely read or write, calls herself a “lead kid.” Her childhood MARKETS CONTINUED ON A15 Thome, where lead paint chips blanketed her bedsheets like snowflakes, “affected me really bad,” she says. “In everything I do.” She says she can’t work a professional job. She can’t live alone. And, she says, she surely couldn’t understand this letter. A Fed rate increase this year So on that April day, the 20-year-old says, she asked her mom to give it a look. Her mother glanced at the words, then back at her daughter. “What does this mean all of your payments were sold to a third party?” no longer looks so certain her mother recalls saying. The distraught woman said the letter, written by her insurance AMANDA VOISARD FOR THE WASHINGTON POST BY YLAN Q. MUI milestone would come when company, referred to Rose’s lead checks. The family had settled a TOP: Abandoned buildings in Baltimore, AND JIM TANKERSLEY policymakers meet in September. lead-paint lawsuit against one Baltimore slumlord in 2007, granting which has had a glut of lead-paint lawsuits. But that timeline is now un- Rose a monthly check of nearly $1,000, with yearly increases. Those ABOVE: Rose won such a suit, but her deal The Federal Reserve had ex- likely. Traders have slashed the payments were guaranteed for 35 years. with a third party will cost her thousands. pected to begin withdrawing its odds of a rate increase next “It’s been sold?” Rose asked, memories soon flashing. support for the nation’s economic month. And a growing list of She remembered a nice, white man. He had called her one day on the $62,637 $573,615 recovery this year, but mounting prominent economists say the telephone months after she’d squeaked through high school with a evidence of a global slowdown central bank is not ready to let the “one-point something” grade-point average. His name was Brendan, The amount that The cumulative value could extend the era of easy mon- American recovery stand on its though she said he never mentioned his last name. He told her she could Access Funding paid Rose of the payments. ey. own. make some fast money. He told her he worked for a local company for 35 years of settlement Fed officials have signaled for “When our growth has been as SETTLEMENTS CONTINUED ON A8 payments. months that they are getting clos- volatile as it has been, when the er to raising the central bank’s stock market has been as volatile target interest rate for the first as it has been ... [raising rates time in nearly a decade. Many now] would be undertaking undue investors had anticipated the FED CONTINUED ON A15 Virginia GOP loyalty oath Foes of abortion pursue personal details idea could trip up Trump traception. Some see tactic as “There are stories in the that bring home the reality of what might do. a safeguard; others say these people do,” Bloedow, a soft- Plan signals fear about The development could be an it’s intimidation ware engineer, said in an e-mail. early sign of trouble for Trump, “Any good investigator knows candidate, but some particularly if other state parties that when you’re dealing with worry it could backfire consider similar ideas. But it also BY CHARLES ORNSTEIN hard-core criminals, if you ‘keep is being debated cautiously by ProPublica crawling through their garbage’ Republicans who worry that it some evidence of criminality and BY JENNA PORTNOY could backfire and breed resent- A few years back, Jonathan corruption will turn up.” AND ROBERT COSTA ment among activists who are Bloedow filed a series of requests The health department had al- suspicious of attempts by the under Washington state’s Public ready given him for one provider, richmond — The Virginia Re- GOP establishment to control the Records Act asking for details on he said, and was on the verge of publican Party is considering re- party. pregnancies terminated at abor- turning over more information quiring a loyalty oath from presi- Most of all, the idea — which tion clinics around the state. when Planned Parenthood and dential primary contenders — a began to circulate the morning For every abortion, he wanted other clinics sued, arguing that move widely considered an early after the first GOP debate, when information about the woman’s releasing the records would vio- sign of GOP skittishness about Trump indicated that he wouldn’t age and race, where she lived, how TRAVIS HEYING FOR THE WASHINGTON POST late health department rules and Donald Trump’s campaign. rule out an independent run — long she had been pregnant and Mark Gietzen, the chairman of the Kansas Coalition for Life, places privacy laws. State party officials are debat- signals growing concern about how past pregnancies had ended. crosses on the lawn at the South Wind Women’s Center in Wichita. The legal skirmish, and others ing whether to require candidates TRUMP CONTINUED ON A7 He also wanted to know about any like it nationwide, reveal a quiet A8 From Page One EZ M2 KLMNOto pledge their support to the WEDNESDAYcomplications,, AUGUST but26, he2015 didn’t ask collectsWEDNESDAY to track vital statistics, AUGUST. 26, 2015an antiabortion activist who had evolution in the nation’s abortionKLMNO EZ M2 From Page One A9 eventual nominee and promise The Donald vs. Fox News for names. This is all information Bloedow, 43, isn’t a public previously sued Planned Parent- battle. Increasingly, abortion op- not to run as a third-party candi- The mogul’s online war of words that Washington’s health depart- health researcher, a traditional hood, accusing the group of over- ponents are pursuing personal date — as Trump has hinted he prompts Roger Ailes to step in. C1 ment, like those in other states, journalist or a clinic owner. He’s charging the government for con- ABORTIONS CONTINUED ON A20

Fortunes sold for fractions downfall has many in police as part of efforts IN THE NEWS his home state of Indi­ to combat heroin addic­ INSIDE ana feeling let down. tion and deaths, both of SETTLEMENTS FROM A1 THE WORLD THE NATION A12 be a lucrative trade. which are on the rise. B1 FOOD Migrants are racing Testers found twice as A D.C. regulatorAnd for are- time, it wasKandula, for Scotta 13­year­old Po’ boy on a roll named Access Funding. He talked into Hungary, which is many “superbugs” in jected theBlumenfeld. proposed Asian elephant born at Tom Sietsema’s tour of to her as a friend. trying to fence its south­ conventional ground Pepco­Exelon merger, the National Zoo, will America’s best food cities Rose, who court records say ern border by the end of beef as organic. A3 saying thereAn insider’s is scant evi­ view be moving to the Okla­ reaches New Orleans. E1 suffers from “irreversible brain the month, adding to Participation in the dence it wouldHe likes improve risks. He’shoma partial City Zoo to this fall, damage,” didn’t have a lot of Europe’s growing refu­ ACT test is growing, but the reliabilitylarge, of shiny electri­ watches.so he He can breed.has B1 STYLE friends. She didn’t trust many gee problem. A10 scores are stagnating. A4 cal service.playedA12 so much poker,The smaller peering of the Na- ‘What else?’ people. Growing up off North Av- French authorities Proponents say laws The FDAover warned cards, the shufflingtional chips, Zoo’s thatgiant pan­ A college rite of passage enue in West Baltimore, she said formally opened a ter­ requiring cameras in makerhe’s of Just developed Mayo to carpalda tunnel newborns syn- is receiv­ plays out at a Container she’s seen people killed. rorism probe of the at­ operating rooms would stop “misbranding”drome in his the right arming round­the­clock and now Store in Tenleytown. C1 But Brendan was different. He wears a large, black brace. He tempted shooting on a help reduce fatal medi­ vegan product as may­ medical care from zoo­ bought her a fancy meal at Long- drives a late-model blue Audi, Paris­bound train. A10 cal errors. A4 onnaise. A16 keepers. Also, a look at horn Steakhouse, she said, and TRAFFIC AT N.Y.’S LINCOLN TUNNEL. RON ANTONELLI/BLOOMBERG NEWS which he says has made him ner- BUSINESS NEWS...... A12 The Islamic State ap- Unlike his brother in guaranteedavacationforthefam- Lunchvous can now when be drivingwhy through pandas cer- are born so CLASSIFIEDS...... D7 ily. He seemed like a gentleman, Going nowhere The average Washington-area parently used a chemi­ the wake of Katrina, Jeb quicklytain delivered Baltimorein neighborhoodssmall. B2 at COMICS...... C6 (DETAILS, B2) cal weapon in Syria last Bush has received praise Washington with the Metro’s board will LOTTERIES...... B3 someone she said she could trust. driver spends 82 hours per year stuck in night to meet a lead-paint victim. OBITUARIES...... B5 week, a doctors’ group for his handling of hur­ tap of an Uber app. A14 meet to review the in­ DAILY CODE 2 4 3 6 One day soon after, a notary traffic, worst in the country, a study finds. A3 “I never roll up on someone OPINION PAGES...... A18 arrived at her house and slid her a said. A11 ricanes. A6 without calling first,”vestigation he said. into an TELEVISION...... C3 12-page “purchase” agreement. What’s killing whales? Researchers work to Violence hit India’s THE REGIONBlumenfeld, whoAug. has 6 worked derailment and CONTENT © 2015 Rose was alone. But she wasn’t Gujarat state after the THE ECONOMY Marylandhundreds is adding of settlementdiscuss transfer “potential disci­ The Washington Post / Year 138, No. 264 worried. She said she spoke to a solve “unusual mortality event” that has led to a prosperous clan rallied Former Subway treatmentcontracts, beds and said he neverplinary intended action” against for state benefits. A11 pitchman Jared Fogle’s sending more money to agency employees. B1 lawyer named Charles E. Smith on more carcasses on Alaska shores this year. A2 to get into this sort of work. He Printed using recycled fiber the phone about the contract. She grew up in Rockville, got his un- felt confident in what it stated. dergraduate degree in Madison, She was selling some checks in the Wis., then entered the University distant future for some quick of Baltimore School of Law. While money, right? there, he says he met other law The reality, however, was sub- students who went on to form the stantially different. Rose sold ev- legal foundation for some of the erything to Access Funding — area’s biggest structured settle- 420 monthly lead checks between ment purchasing firms. 2017 and 2052. They amounted to Many settled in one place, he a total of nearly $574,000 and had said. “Around Bethesda, there’s a a present value of roughly whole concentration of these $338,000. structured settlement companies, In return, Access Funding paid but no [settlement recipients] are AMANDA VOISARD FOR THE WASHINGTON POST her less than $63,000. in Bethesda. Zero. None. Like, I’ve never heard of one in Bethesda,” ‘They fall through a crack’ Blumenfeld said. “But they’re not renting is expensive and detracts Believing she still had money, Rose, who spoke to The Wash- doing business with anyone in from my ability to provide suit- Rose in March again tried to sell ington Post on the condition that Bethesda. No one even in Mont- able housing for myself and my some settlement payments. But her full name not be used, had just gomery County. It’s all about Bal- dependent.” The other affidavit the petition, filed in April, was tumbled into the little-noticed, ef- timore.” said: “Renting is an expense I no later dismissed when it emerged fectively unregulated nether- Blumenfeld’s first role in the longer wish to incur.” that all her money was gone. It world of structured settlements. industry came in 2005, notarizing Burkowski, Access Funding’s was around that time that she also Traditional settlements are contracts for a Bethesda settle- chief executive, said he could only stitched together what had hap- paid in one immediate lump sum. ment purchasing company. Over speculate as to what happened. pened with Access Funding. In But these structured agreements LANCE ROSENFIELD FOR THE WASHINGTON POST the next five years, he rapped on “We take what is told to us,” he May, she called lawyers to see often deliver monthly payments doors in Baltimore’s toughest said. “These are people, respect- whether anything could be done. across decades to protect vulner- blocks to secure hundreds of sig- able people who have honest In early June, Rose sued Smith, able recipients from immediately reached 31 and inflicted “perma- natures. needs. If they say they need a the attorney who had worked as spending the money. Since 1975, nent and severe brain damage,” In 2010, Blumenfeld became an house, it’s not Access Funding’s Rose’s independent adviser in the insurance companies have com- according to court papers, sever- independent professional adviser position to challenge what that Access Funding deal. Smith “has mitted an estimated $350 billion ing her capacity to “enjoy a nor- and started counseling sellers be- client is representing to us. We’re signed at least 40 identical or to structured settlements. This mal life.” fore their deals went to court. trying to help these people.” substantially similar letters under has given rise to a secondary mar- So the Grays — as Rose did, as Maryland legislation holds that It’s help that Jones said he similar circumstances in other pe- ket in which dozens of firms com- thousands of other families did — such a person — who can neither could have done without. “The titions where Access Funding was pete to purchase the rights to sued their landlord, settling in be paid by nor affiliated with a whole thing’s a scam,” said Jones, seeking a transfer of a structured those payments for a fraction of 2010. The Grays then decided on a purchasing firm — must “render claiming Access Funding made up settlement,” states the lawsuit, their face value. course that six lead-paint lawyers advice concerning the [deal’s] le- why he needed the money. “All filed in Baltimore City Circuit What happens in these deals is say they often counsel clients to gal, tax and financial implica- that money I got is gone. They Court. The lawsuit, filed by attor- a matter of perspective. To indus- take. The Grays structured their tions.” The sellers are supposed to gave me pennies.” neys Raymond Marshall and Bri- try advocates, the transactions get settlements, an arrangement rec- pay their adviser. So Jones has decided to fight. an Brown, accuses Smith of legal money to people who need it now. ommended by insurance compa- Sounds complicated. It wasn’t, He’s working with an attorney malpractice and intentional mis- They keep desperate families off nies, disability advocates and Blumenfeld said. “I was doing who’s considering litigation representation. the streets, pay medical bills, put even Congress. most of them on the phone,” he against Access Funding. And he’s It says Smith failed to disclose kids through school. “I try to convince my clients said. He asked whether they un- not the only one. his ongoing relationship with “What we do is provide equity that taking a structured settle- derstood the “legal, tax and fi- Access Funding to Rose and nei- for those people to buy homes,” ment might be in their best inter- nancial implications” of the deal. MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST Tears, then litigation ther met her in person nor in- said Access Funding chief execu- est,” Kerpelman said. “They have “It would take less than a minute. Rose, top, who court records say has “irreversible brain “There it is,”Rose said, pointing quired about her intellectual ca- tive Michael Borkowski. He said no experience managing money, I didn’t go over the terms of the damage,” sold settlement payments to Access Funding. at a large structure looming just pabilities. “No reasonable attor- his organization had no reason to are brain compromised, and his- contract. That wasn’t my func- Lawyer Scott Blumenfeld, above, has worked in the industry. blocks from where the CVS ney acting on behalf of Rose think Rose was cognitively im- tory shows they’ll likely run tion. I don’t think any of the burned during the Freddie Gray would have recommended the paired, pointing to her high through a large cash settlement in other lawyers do that, or else protests. This is where her lead- proposed transaction,” it says. school degree, driver’s license and a short time.” they would never get any repeat painted, childhood house once Smith argued in court papers written documents in her name. But poverty is expensive. Dis- business.” Commission accused Blumenfeld failing classes. stood. “They knocked it down,” that Rose’s lawsuit is “fundamen- He said Access Funding has no ability is expensive. Debt mounts. Charles E. Smith is another of employing a paralegal with a One psychologist, court rec- Rose said. “It’s gone now.” tallyinconsistent”withherearlier record showing that Brendan, Forfeiting future payments for lawyer who does this work. A re- “substantial criminal history” ords show, doubted his employ- It was a Saturday afternoon, position and warrants dismissal. whom he praised for “the highest immediate cash can seem like a view of 52 Access Funding deals whom an elderly client gave pow- ability, citing his “severe learning andWestBaltimorewasalivewith Rose, he said, signed a contract level of professionalism,” took painful necessity. revealed that Smith worked as the er of attorney. The board also al- difficulties.” He put his lifetime funeral processions. The city had stating her desire to sell the pay- Rose out to eat, and he disputed FAMILY PHOTOS FROM COURT FILINGS That’s how 42-year-old Tar- independent adviser on every leged that Blumenfeld “failed to economic loss at more than just undergone its bloodiest ments. She signed an affidavit say- that she’d been promised a vaca- Baltimore’s Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, top, where court records show Freddie Gray’s family had lived in buildings with sha Simms recently reconciled one. Smith entered the same letter properly maintain trust account $1.5 million. Another medical month in four decades — 43 shot ing she’d spoken to an independ- tion. “We’re trying to bring better lead paint. Freddie Gray, above left, whose April death sparked protests, and his siblings were awarded structured settlements from her decision to sell a portion of in every case stating that the lead records” and client ledgers. It sus- professional couldn’t determine dead — and Rose pulled out her ent adviser. “A party who signs a value to people,” Borkowski con- their lead-paint lawsuits. Gray and his sisters signed six contracts with Access Funding; the family now burns with resentment. her daughter’s settlement to Ac- victim understood the deal’s “le- pended him in July last year for at whether Jones, who repeated sev- phone to show a grisly image of a contract is presumed to have read tinued. “. . . We really do try to get cess Funding. “I do regret it,” gal, tax and financial implica- least six months for improper su- eral grades, was “severely dis- dead black man making the and understood its terms,” the people the best deals.” Simms said. “But if it wasn’t for tions” and that he was not “affili- pervision and record mainte- abled”orjust“generallydisabled.” rounds on Facebook. “He got response stated. “. . . This general But to critics, Access Funding is this deal, we would be on the ated” with Access Funding. nance. “His mother essentially han- killed over nothing,” she said. rule applies even where the indi- part of an industry that profits off 2000, Maryland inked the Struc- victim sold nearly $327,000 worth The issue — and the company with the Grays. “In fact, we have street right now.” Borkowski said his company has Those legal issues have stalled dles his medical regimen, takes Rose said she hates it here. She vidual signing the document is the poor and disabled. And Balti- tured Settlement Protection Act, of payments, which had a present — was familiar to the presiding had dialogue since Freddie’s pass- To balance clients’ vulnerabili- no contractual or business rela- Blumenfeld’s work in the struc- him to doctors and makes sure he doesn’t want to stay long. The ‘functionally illiterate.’ ” more has become a prime target. which enumerated a series of value of $179,000, for less than judge, Herman C. Dawson. Ac- ing in which we provided our ties with purchasing companies’ tionship with Smith, declining to tured settlement industry, he gets his medications,” pediatri- funeral processions remind her of Rose now works for a local It’s here that one teen — diag- requirements. First, a seller $16,200 — or about 9 cents on the cess Funding has petitioned his condolences and sent flowers to desire for profit, most state legis- answer additional questions. said. But even now, he said he cian Michael A. Conte said in a everything she was happy to leave home care service, providing nosed with “mild mental retarda- must seek the counsel of an inde- dollar. Another relinquished court more than 160 times since the family,”Borkowski wrote in an latures called upon county judges Smith said such transactions still wonders at opportunities deposition. “She, obviously, takes behind when her family bought a companionship to an elderly tion,” court records show — sold pendent professional adviser. $256,000 worth of payments, 2013 to purchase structured set- e-mail. to decide the cases. But Mary- “represent an extremely small missed. One person, especially, care of all the financial matters. large home just outside Baltimore woman, she said. In between her payments through 2030 in Then the proposed deal must go which had a present value of tlement payments. Dawson has The path that led the Gray sib- land’s law, according to longtime percentage of my practice. I have still crosses his thoughts. He And she transports him, or his with settlement money. The move shifts and helping her brother four deals and is now homeless. before a county judge, who de- $166,000, for $35,000 — or about approved those requests 90 per- lings into these deals began dec- structured settlement expert no business partnerships with tried to get in touch with him. He girlfriend transports him, when brought her within a few miles of with his kids, she said she tries not It’s here that companies blanket cides whether that agreement 21 cents on the dollar. cent of the time. ades ago, inside a series of poorly Craig Ulman, is “substantially any company in the structured sent him letters. he needs to travel to places that Heritage High School, where she to think about what has happened certain neighborhoods in adver- reflects the seller’s best interests. Taken together, the sample Freddie Gray, awarded a struc- maintained, lead-painted tene- weaker” than in most states. For settlement purchasing industry. But Blumenfeld never did con- involves more than just walking secured the diploma she now calls to her settlement. Still, she said tisements, searching for a poten- But today,critics say,that meas- shows Access Funding petitioned tured settlement as a result of his ments in the neighborhood of example, it doesn’t require that ...In all instances, I am directly nectwithVincentMauriceJonesJr. down the street.” her greatest achievement. she feels hunted, “like a target or tially lucrative type of inhabitant, ure is failing. “There are weak- to buy roughly $6.9 million worth lead-paint lawsuit, now wanted Sandtown-Winchester, court rec- settlement recipients appear in contacted by the [settlement re- But an affidavit written by That accomplishment, Rose something.” whose stories recall the legacy of nesses and ways people can cir- of future payments — which had a the same. “Being debt free will be ords show. court, as Illinois’ law does. It also cipient.] ...I’m not exactly sure ‘They gave me pennies’ Access Funding and signed by said, now feels far away.One after- Settlement purchasing compa- Freddie Gray. cumvent it,” said Eric Vaughn, ex- present value of $5.3 million — for a great help,” said an affidavit that “They told us to move out of the doesn’t make purchasing compa- how [they] come to me. ... My Sunlight spilled across the si- Jones in 2013 said Jones wanted to noon, she suddenly began to cry. nies, she said, pester her with Before his April death after ecutive director of the National around $1.7 million. Gray signed. “It will take a lot of house,” Shipley recalled one lead- nies file their petitions in the sell- independence is in no way com- lent street in West Baltimore. But sell $90,000 of his settlement for She often tells people she’s “not phone calls and letters. Just the being severely injured in police Structured Settlements Trade As- Presented with these findings, stress off of me and will help paint inspector advising the fam- er’s county of residence, as in New promised or at risk.” inside one of its few occupied $26,000 to “purchase a vehicle.” dumb.”She just needs a little extra other day, Rose said she opened custody, before this hollowed- sociation, which represents com- Borkowski said Access Funding improve my credit rating so that I ily.Butwherecouldtheygo?Every York, Oregon and other states. Critics condemned the practice homes, everything was dark. The money, the affidavit said, time to understand things. But the mailbox and there was a letter out city plunged into rioting, the panies and lawyers working in the doesn’t target lead victims and can make larger purchases in the house they lived in between 1988 Critics say such conditions can of an independent adviser work- Black curtains hung across the would also be used to “look for right now, saddled by the weight from Access Funding. It promised life of Freddie Gray was a case industry. “And these companies that Baltimore’s glut of lead-paint future.” and 1996 had lead paint. Each of give rise to something called “fo- ing deal after deal for the same windows. The living room was work and also need furniture, of decisions made and contracts her fast money. All Rose had to do study in the effect of lead paint are getting around the intents of lawsuits has artificially inflated Gray had agreed to sell the siblings’ lead levels soared to rum shopping,” in which pur- company. “It’s a total conflict of strewn with pawn slips and a clothes, school supplies for my signed, she felt less sure of that was pick up the phone and call. on poor blacks. The lead poison- the law. ...And when that hap- that aspect of its business. He said $146,000 worth of his structured at least 36 micrograms of lead per chasing companies seek out less- interest,” lawyer Kerpelman said. pamphlet advising what to do young daughter.” conviction. [email protected] ing Gray suffered as a child may pens, people get hammered.” interested investors set the pur- settlement, valued at $94,000, to deciliter of blood. This was con- scrutinous judges. Those firms “He’s doing business for them and upon suffering a gunshot wound. But Jones has a son, not a have contributed to his difficul- A Washington Post review of chase prices, which are lower than Access Funding for around sidered high then, when the city “find the squeaky wheels, where with them all the time. Imagine if And anchoring its mantel was a daughter. And Jones has never ties with learning, truancy and thousands of pages of court rec- the payments’ present value be- $18,300. His sisters wanted annually produced thousands of things aren’t as enforced as he ever said, ‘No, she can’t read. cookie tin emblazoned with the had a driver’s license. Within arrests — all of it culminating in ords and interviews with industry cause various factors — such as a almost the same exact deal, which lead-poisoned children. It’s con- much . . . and the judge simply She can’t understand what she’s words “Access Funding.” months of buying a Ford sedan, a 2008 lead-paint lawsuit and a insiders and eight victims of lead life-contingency clause that stops in all would relinquish $435,000 sidered even higher now.The Cen- looks at the affidavit,” said John signing.’ ” That partnership, he Vincent Maurice Jones Jr., who Jones collected four tickets for windfall of cash locked inside a poisoning have revealed these payments if the holder dies — of the Gray siblings’ settlement — ters for Disease Control and Pre- Darer, who operates a blog moni- said, would evaporate. didn’t graduate from high school, operating a vehicle without a li- structured settlement. By late loopholes in Baltimore. diminish their worth. valued at around $280,000 — for vention today describes any level toring the industry. But Blumenfeld said perceived was playing video games upstairs cense. That car today bakes in the 2013, Gray was striking deals Access Funding, located in “When you get all the way about $54,000, or less than above 5 micrograms as “elevated,” Petitions involving Maryland’s conflicts of interest weren’t the in his bedroom. He quickly tired sun, unused. with Access Funding. Chevy Chase, isn’t the biggest until 2052, that’s pretty far out 20 cents on the dollar of its pres- and on Tuesday, federal authori- lead victims cluster in Montgom- only matters that discomforted of questions. Months later, Jones struck an- People like Gray who have suf- player in the industry. But the there,” he said, adding that his ent-day value. ties pledged $3.7 million to elimi- ery, Howard and Prince George’s him. “A 10-year-old does not have What happened with Access other deal with Access Funding. fered lead poisoning as children company’s court documents company, which does 80 percent No one objected to the pro- nate what remains of Baltimore’s counties — anywhere but Balti- the mental ability to sell these Funding? “You feeling me, they This time, he signed two con- are especially vulnerable to pred- nonetheless illuminate the me- of its work outside Maryland, posed deals. Dawson adjudicated lead-paint problem. more City, the jurisdiction where payments, but you see this person got all that money, and I didn’t tracts. One relinquished $327,000 atory transactions. Many are im- chanics of this trade, as well as survives only by offering better the petitions, along with two oth- The study of lead’s effects on most of those lead victims live. is 20, but he has the mental brain even get a lot.” How much money worth of future payments, with a pulsive and mentally disabled, how little scrutiny it receives. The deals than other firms. er deals involving victims of lead the body remains an evolving sci- Access Funding says it has over- capacity of a 10-year-old. ... So was in his settlement? “What set- present value of $179,000, for but not so much that the law firm has filed nearly 200 struc- Still, Borkowski urged stricter poisoning, within three minutes, ence. Used as an artificial sweet- whelmingly filed in Prince does this annuitant have the abili- tlement?” $16,000 in return. Another deal, regards them as incapable of act- tured settlement purchases in legislation and more oversight. according to a recording of the ener in ancient Rome, lead later George’s County because that’s ty to sell these payments?” Jones, 25, came of age in a later dismissed, offered $34,000 ing on their own behalf, as long as Maryland since 2013. A review of “These questions you raise touch hearing. “The matter is closed,” became a cheap manufacturing where their attorney’s office is So Blumenfeld said he adopted house on Mosher Street, which for a stream of payments that they’re 18 or older. two-thirds of those cases, which on fundamental things we are go- Dawson said at the hearing. He additive. But lead never lost its located. a third and final role, this time as today stands abandoned and totaled $336,000 and had a pre- “A lot of them can barely read,” primarily funnel through one ing to be doing differently now,” declined to comment. sweetness — a poison candy irre- Maryland’s court system also something of a broker. He boarded up. Lead paint so infest- sent value of $195,000. In all, said Saul E. Kerpelman, who esti- judge’s courtroom in Prince he said. “We want to secure our- The Gray family, which signed sistible to children. Scientists makes it easy to find the right shopped around clients between ed its interior that only a few walls Jones seemed willing to sell mates he has defended more than George’s County Circuit Court, selves in the future from any po- six contracts with Access Fund- once assumed the body could clientele. Its case search puts several purchasing companies, he were free of it, according to rec- $663,000 of his settlement for 4,000 victims of lead poisoning, shows nearly three-fourths in- tential questions like this again, ing, now burns with resentment. withstand a fair amount of lead, lead-paint lawsuits into their said, to secure better deals. One ords filed in a lead-paint lawsuit $50,000. nearly all of them black. “They volved victims of lead poisoning. so we can say, ‘No, that’s not us.’ ” The kids were in a tough spot which government authorities own category, meaning a few client was lead victim Kevin Ow- that Jones settled in 2008. “Just a The official reason stated in the have limited capacity.But they fall Every case spells out the deal’s financially, stepfather Richard banned in residential paint in keystrokes can call forth thou- ens, who wanted to sell hundreds lead pit,” was what one Baltimore two spring 2014 affidavits was through a crack. If they were se- worth. It lists the aggregate value ‘They sucker you in’ Shipley said. Shipley said he tried 1978. But researchers now say any sands of names. This unique con- of thousands of dollars’ worth of pediatrician called it in a deposi- puzzling. Jones, who had just verely disabled enough, you could of the lead victim’s payments, The court proceeding that to dissuade them from taking the trace of lead, which children ab- fluence of factors constitutes the payments. He committed to tion. bought the house he and his file a court petition to have a their present value and the agreed would alter the futures of Freddie deal but failed. “They sucker you sorb by eating paint chips and “perfect storm of bad stuff,” said Access Funding but backed out When Jones was 2 years old, his mother share using money from a trustee manage their property. purchase price. A random survey Gray and his siblings took place in. ...They didn’t know they were breathing paint dust, can cripple Earl Nesbitt, executive director after Blumenfeld spoke with him. blood carried 16 micrograms — structured-settlement deal, But they’re not disabled enough.” of 52 of those deals shows Access an hour’s drive south from their giving up so much for so little,” he cognitive development. of the National Association of In a lawsuit dismissed in March, triple the level considered elevat- hadn’t needed to pay rent for Over the past two decades, Funding generally offers to pay home in Baltimore, in the town of said. Now, he said, the lead checks The Grays eventually exhibited Settlement Purchasers. Access Funding accused Blumen- ed — before shooting to 28. Then it months. But he signed an affidavit state legislatures and the U.S. around 33 cents on the present Upper Marlboro. At stake were havestopped,andAccessFunding “neurocognitive deficits,” records But it isn’t bad for everyone. For feld of interference with business dropped to 16 before rising to 22. compiled by Access Funding say- Congress have passed measures value of a dollar. Sometimes, it hundreds of thousands of dollars, won’t return their calls. say. Psychologists also discovered the savvy operative, someone will- practices and unjust enrichment. Even at age 8, lead still coursed at ing he intended “to purchase [a] to protect vulnerable people sell- offers more. And sometimes, but none of the Grays attended the Access Funding, Borkowski those same “deficits” in Rose and ing to travel deep into Baltimore’s Around that same time, the high levels in his bloodstream. down payment on a house. Be- ing structured settlements. In much less. One 24-year-old lead hearing. said, has a “good” relationship her siblings. Her blood lead level poorest neighborhoods, this can Maryland Attorney Grievance Soon, he was repeating grades, cause I am currently unemployed, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO EZ M2 From Page One A9 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 KLMNO EZ M2 From Page One A9

be a lucrative trade. And for a time, it was for Scott be a lucrative trade. Blumenfeld. And for a time, it was for Scott Blumenfeld. An insider’s view He likes risks. He’s partial to An insider’s view large, shiny watches. He has He likes risks. He’s partial to played so much poker, peering large, shiny watches. He has over cards, shuffling chips, that played so much poker, peering he’s developed carpal tunnel syn- over cards, shuffling chips, that drome in his right arm and now he’s developed carpal tunnel syn- wears a large, black brace. He drome in his right arm and now drives a late-model blue Audi, wears a large, black brace. He which he says has made him ner- drives a late-model blue Audi, vous when driving through cer- which he says has made him ner- tain Baltimore neighborhoods at vous when driving through cer- night to meet a lead-paint victim. tain Baltimore neighborhoods at “I never roll up on someone night to meet a lead-paint victim. without calling first,” he said. “I never roll up on someone Blumenfeld, who has worked without calling first,” he said. hundreds of settlement transfer Blumenfeld, who has worked contracts, said he never intended hundreds of settlement transfer to get into this sort of work. He contracts, said he never intended grew up in Rockville, got his un- to get into this sort of work. He dergraduate degree in Madison, grew up in Rockville, got his un- Wis., then entered the University dergraduate degree in Madison, of Baltimore School of Law. While Wis., then entered the University there, he says he met other law of Baltimore School of Law. While students who went on to form the there, he says he met other law legal foundation for some of the students who went on to form the area’s biggest structured settle- legal foundation for some of the ment purchasing firms. area’s biggest structured settle- Many settled in one place, he ment purchasing firms. said. “Around Bethesda, there’s a Many settled in one place, he whole concentration of these said. “Around Bethesda, there’s a structured settlement companies, whole concentration of these AMANDA VOISARD FOR THE WASHINGTON POST but no [settlement recipients] are structured settlement companies, in Bethesda. Zero. None. Like, I’ve but no [settlement recipients] are AMANDA VOISARD FOR THE WASHINGTON POST never heard of one in Bethesda,” in Bethesda. Zero. None. Like, I’ve Blumenfeld said. “But they’re not never heard of one in Bethesda,” renting is expensive and detracts Believing she still had money, doing business with anyone in Blumenfeld said. “But they’re not from my ability to provide suit- Rose in March again triedrenting to sell is expensive and detracts Believing she still had money, Bethesda. No one even in Mont- doing business with anyone in able housing for myself and my some settlement payments.from my But ability to provide suit- Rose in March again tried to sell gomery County. It’s all about Bal- Bethesda. No one even in Mont- dependent.” The other affidavit the petition, filed inable April, housing was for myself and my some settlement payments. But timore.” gomery County. It’s all about Bal- said: “Renting is an expense I no later dismissed when itdependent.” emerged The other affidavit the petition, filed in April, was Blumenfeld’s first role in the timore.” longer wish to incur.” that all her money wassaid: gone. “Renting It is an expense I no later dismissed when it emerged industry came in 2005, notarizing Blumenfeld’s first role in the Burkowski, Access Funding’s was around that time thatlonger shealso wish to incur.” that all her money was gone. It contracts for a Bethesda settle- industry came in 2005, notarizing chief executive, said he could only stitched together what hadBurkowski, hap- Access Funding’s was around that time that she also ment purchasing company. Over contracts for a Bethesda settle- speculate as to what happened. pened with Access Funding.chief executive, In said he could only stitched together what had hap- the next five years, he rapped on ment purchasing company. Over “We take what is told to us,” he May, she called lawyersspeculate to see as to what happened. pened with Access Funding. In doors in Baltimore’s toughest the next five years, he rapped on said. “These are people, respect- whether anything could“We be done. take what is told to us,” he May, she called lawyers to see blocks to secure hundreds of sig- doors in Baltimore’s toughest able people who have honest In early June, Rose suedsaid. Smith, “These are people, respect- whether anything could be done. natures. blocks to secure hundreds of sig- needs. If they say they need a the attorney who hadable worked people as who have honest In early June, Rose sued Smith, In 2010, Blumenfeld became an natures. house, it’s not Access Funding’s Rose’s independent adviserneeds. in theIf they say they need a the attorney who had worked as independent professional adviser In 2010, Blumenfeld became an position to challenge what that Access Funding deal. Smithhouse, “has it’s not Access Funding’s Rose’s independent adviser in the and started counseling sellers be- independent professional adviser client is representing to us. We’re signed at least 40 identicalposition or to challenge what that Access Funding deal. Smith “has fore their deals went to court. and started counseling sellers be- trying to help these people.” substantially similar lettersclient under is representing to us. We’re signed at least 40 identical or Maryland legislation holds that fore their deals went to court. It’s help that Jones said he similar circumstances intrying other to pe- help these people.” substantially similar letters under such a person — who can neither Maryland legislation holds that could have done without. “The titions where Access FundingIt’s was help that Jones said he similar circumstances in other pe- be paid by nor affiliated with a such a person — who can neither whole thing’s a scam,” said Jones, seeking a transfer of acould structured have done without. “The titions where Access Funding was purchasing firm — must “render be paid by nor affiliated with a claiming Access Funding made up settlement,” states thewhole lawsuit, thing’s a scam,” said Jones, seeking a transfer of a structured advice concerning the [deal’s] le- purchasing firm — must “render why he needed the money. “All filed in Baltimore Cityclaiming Circuit Access Funding made up settlement,” states the lawsuit, gal, tax and financial implica- advice concerning the [deal’s] le- that money I got is gone. They Court. The lawsuit, filedwhy by attor-he needed the money. “All filed in Baltimore City Circuit tions.” The sellers are supposed to gal, tax and financial implica- gave me pennies.” neys Raymond Marshallthat and money Bri- I got is gone. They Court. The lawsuit, filed by attor- pay their adviser. tions.” The sellers are supposed to So Jones has decided to fight. an Brown, accuses Smithgave of me legal pennies.” neys Raymond Marshall and Bri- Sounds complicated. It wasn’t, pay their adviser. He’s working with an attorney malpractice and intentionalSo Jones mis- has decided to fight. an Brown, accuses Smith of legal Blumenfeld said. “I was doing Sounds complicated. It wasn’t, who’s considering litigation representation. He’s working with an attorney malpractice and intentional mis- most of them on the phone,” he Blumenfeld said. “I was doing against Access Funding. And he’s It says Smith failed towho’s disclose considering litigation representation. said. He asked whether they un- most of them on the phone,” he not the only one. his ongoing relationshipagainst with Access Funding. And he’s It says Smith failed to disclose derstood the “legal, tax and fi- said. He asked whether they un- Access Funding to Rosenot and the nei- only one. his ongoing relationship with MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST nancial implications” of the deal. derstood the “legal, tax and fi- Tears, then litigation ther met her in person nor in- Access Funding to Rose and nei- “It would take less than a minute. Rose, top, who courtnancial records implications” say has “irreversible of the deal. brain “There it is,”Rose said, pointingMARVIN JOSEPH/THEquired WASHINGTON about POST her intellectualTears, thenca- litigation ther met her in person nor in- I didn’t go over the terms of the damage,” sold settlement“It would payments take less to than Access a minute. Funding. Rose, top,at who a large court structure records say looming has “irreversible just pabilities. brain “No reasonable“There attor- it is,”Rose said, pointing quired about her intellectual ca- contract. That wasn’t my func- Lawyer Scott Blumenfeld,I didn’t above, go over has the worked terms ofin the industry.damage,” soldblocks settlement from paymentswhere the to Access CVS Funding.ney acting on behalfat of a large Rose structure looming just pabilities. “No reasonable attor- tion. I don’t think any of the contract. That wasn’t my func- Lawyer Scottburned Blumenfeld, during the above, Freddie has worked Gray inwould the industry. have recommendedblocks the from where the CVS ney acting on behalf of Rose other lawyers do that, or else tion. I don’t think any of the protests. This is where her lead- proposed transaction,”burned it says. during the Freddie Gray would have recommended the they would never get any repeat other lawyers do that, or else painted, childhood house once Smith argued in courtprotests. papers This is where her lead- proposed transaction,” it says. business.” Commission accused Blumenfeldthey would neverfailing get classes. any repeat stood. “They knocked it down,” that Rose’s lawsuit is “fundamen-painted, childhood house once Smith argued in court papers Charles E. Smith is another of employing a paralegalbusiness.” with a One psychologist, courtCommission rec- accusedRose said. Blumenfeld “It’s gone now.”failing classes.tallyinconsistent”withherearlierstood. “They knocked it down,” that Rose’s lawsuit is “fundamen- lawyer who does this work. A re- “substantial criminal history”Charles E.ords Smith show, is another doubted hisof employ- employing a paralegalIt was a withSaturday a afternoon,One psychologist,position court and warrants rec- Rose dismissal. said. “It’s gone now.” tallyinconsistent”withherearlier view of 52 Access Funding deals whom an elderly clientlawyer gave pow- who doesability, this citing work. his A re- “severe“substantial learning andWestBaltimorewasalivewith criminal history” ords show, doubtedRose, he his said, employ- signed a contractIt was a Saturday afternoon, position and warrants dismissal. revealed that Smith worked as the er of attorney. The boardview also of al-52 Accessdifficulties.” Funding He deals put hiswhom lifetime an elderlyfuneral client processions. gave pow- Theability, city had citing hisstating “severe her learning desire to sellandWestBaltimorewasalivewith the pay- Rose, he said, signed a contract independent adviser on every leged that Blumenfeldrevealed “failed to that Smitheconomic worked loss as the at moreer of attorney. than just The board undergone also al- itsdifficulties.” bloodiest Hements. put Shehis signed lifetime an affidavitfuneral say- processions. The city had stating her desire to sell the pay- one. Smith entered the same letter properly maintain trustindependent account $1.5 adviser million. on every Anotherleged medical that Blumenfeldmonth in “failedfour decades to economic — 43 shot lossing at she’d more spoken than to anjust independ- undergone its bloodiest ments. She signed an affidavit say- in every case stating that the lead records” and client ledgers.one. Smith It sus- enteredprofessional the same couldn’t letter properly determine maintaindead trust— and account Rose pulled$1.5 out million. her ent Another adviser. medical “A party whomonth signs in a four decades — 43 shot ing she’d spoken to an independ- victim understood the deal’s “le- pended him in July lastin year every for case at statingwhether that Jones, the lead who repeatedrecords” sev- and clientphone ledgers. to show It asus- grislyprofessional image of a couldn’tcontract isdetermine presumed todead have — read and Rose pulled out her ent adviser. “A party who signs a gal, tax and financial implica- least six months for impropervictim understood su- eral grades,the deal’s was “le- “severelypended dis- him indead July last black year forman at makingwhether the Jones,and who understood repeated sev- its terms,”phone to the show a grisly image of a contract is presumed to have read tions” and that he was not “affili- pervision and recordgal, mainte- tax andabled”orjust“generallydisabled.” financial implica- least six monthsrounds for improper on Facebook. su- eral “He grades, got wasresponse “severely stated. dis- “. . . Thisdead general black man making the and understood its terms,” the ated” with Access Funding. nance. tions” and that he“His was mother not “affili- essentiallypervision han- andkilled record over nothing,” mainte- sheabled”orjust“generallydisabled.” said. rule applies even whererounds the indi- on Facebook. “He got response stated. “. . . This general Borkowski said his company has Those legal issues haveated” stalled withdles Access his medical Funding. regimen,nance. takes Rose said she hates it here.“His She mothervidual essentially signing han- the documentkilled over is nothing,” she said. rule applies even where the indi- no contractual or business rela- Blumenfeld’s work inBorkowski the struc- saidhim his to company doctors and has makesThose sure he legaldoesn’t issues have want stalled to staydles long. his The medical‘functionally regimen, illiterate.’ takes ” Rose said she hates it here. She vidual signing the document is tionship with Smith, declining to tured settlement industry,no contractual he gets or business his medications,” rela- Blumenfeld’s pediatri- funeral work in processions the struc- remindhim to her doctors of andRose makes now sure works he fordoesn’t a local want to stay long. The ‘functionally illiterate.’ ” answer additional questions. said. But even now, hetionship said he with Smith,cian Michael declining A. toContetured said in settlement a everything industry, she was he happygets to hisleave medications,”home care pediatri- service,funeral providing processions remind her of Rose now works for a local Smith said such transactions still wonders at opportunitiesanswer additionaldeposition. questions. “She, obviously,said. takes But evenbehind now, when he said her he familycian bought Michael a companionship A. Conte said in to a aneverything elderly she was happy to leave home care service, providing “represent an extremely small missed. One person, especially,Smith saidcare such of transactions all the financialstill matters. wonderslarge at opportunities home just outsidedeposition. Baltimore “She,woman, obviously, she takes said. Inbehind between when her family bought a companionship to an elderly percentage of my practice. I have still crosses his thoughts.“represent He anAnd extremely she transports small him,missed. or his Onewith person, settlement especially, money.care The ofmove all theshifts financial and matters. helping herlarge brother home just outside Baltimore woman, she said. In between no business partnerships with tried to get in touch withpercentage him. He ofgirlfriend my practice. transports I have him,still when crossesbrought his thoughts. her within He a fewAnd miles she of transportswith his him, kids, or she his said shewith tries settlement not money. The move shifts and helping her brother any company in the structured sent him letters. no businesshe partnerships needs to travel with to placestried to that get in touchHeritage with High him. School, He girlfriend where she transportsto think him,about when what hasbrought happened her within a few miles of with his kids, she said she tries not settlement purchasing industry. But Blumenfeld neverany did company con- involves in the structured more than justsent walking him letters.secured the diploma shehe now needs calls to travelto her to settlement. places that Still,Heritage she said High School, where she to think about what has happened ...In all instances, I am directly nectwithVincentMauriceJonesJr.settlement purchasingdown the street.” industry. But Blumenfeldher greatest never did achievement. con- involves moreshe than feels just hunted, walking “likesecured a target the or diploma she now calls to her settlement. Still, she said contacted by the [settlement re- ...In all instances,But I aman directly affidavit writtennectwithVincentMauriceJonesJr. by That accomplishment,downRose the street.”something.” her greatest achievement. she feels hunted, “like a target or cipient.] ...I’m not exactly sure ‘They gave me pennies’contacted by theAccess [settlement Funding re- and signed by said, now feels far away.OneBut after- an affidavitSettlement written purchasing by That compa- accomplishment, Rose something.” how [they] come to me. ... My Sunlight spilled acrosscipient.] the si-...I’mJones not in exactly 2013 said sure Jones‘They wanted gave to menoon, pennies’ she suddenly beganAccess to cry. Fundingnies, and she signed said, pesterby said, her now with feels far away.One after- Settlement purchasing compa- independence is in no way com- lent street in West Baltimore.how [they] But comesell $90,000 to me. ... of hisMy settlementSunlight for spilledShe often across tells the people si- Jones she’s in “not 2013 saidphone Jones calls wanted and toletters.noon, Just she the suddenly began to cry. nies, she said, pester her with promised or at risk.” inside one of its fewindependence occupied $26,000 is in no to way “purchase com- lent a vehicle.” street in Westdumb.”She Baltimore. just needsBut asell little $90,000 extra ofother his settlement day, Rose for said sheShe opened often tells people she’s “not phone calls and letters. Just the Critics condemned the practice homes, everything waspromised dark. or atThe risk.” money, the affidavitinside said, one oftime its few to understand occupied things.$26,000 But to “purchasethe mailbox a vehicle.” and there wasdumb.”She a letter just needs a little extra other day, Rose said she opened of an independent adviser work- Black curtains hung acrossCritics the condemnedwould also the practice be used tohomes, “look for everythingright now, was saddled dark. by theThe weight money, thefrom affidavit Access Funding. said, Ittime promised to understand things. But the mailbox and there was a letter ing deal after deal for the same windows. The livingof room an independent was work adviser and also work- needBlack furniture, curtainsof hung decisions across made the andwould contracts also beher used fast to money. “look All for Roseright had tonow, do saddled by the weight from Access Funding. It promised company. “It’s a total conflict of strewn with pawn slipsing dealand aftera clothes, deal for school the same supplieswindows. for my Thesigned, living she room felt was less surework of thatand alsowas need pick up furniture, the phone andof decisions call. made and contracts her fast money. All Rose had to do interest,” lawyer Kerpelman said. pamphlet advising whatcompany. to do “It’syoung a total daughter.” conflict of strewn withconviction. pawn slips and a clothes, school [email protected] for my signed, she felt less sure of that was pick up the phone and call. “He’s doing business for them and upon suffering a gunshotinterest,” wound. lawyerBut Kerpelman Jones hassaid. a son,pamphlet not a advising what to do young daughter.” conviction. [email protected] with them all the time. Imagine if And anchoring its mantel“He’s was doing a businessdaughter. for them And and Jonesupon has never suffering a gunshot wound. But Jones has a son, not a he ever said, ‘No, she can’t read. cookie tin emblazonedwith with them the all thehad time. a driver’s Imagine license. if And Within anchoring its mantel was a daughter. And Jones has never She can’t understand what she’s words “Access Funding.”he ever said, ‘No,months she can’tof buying read. a Fordcookie sedan, tin emblazoned with the had a driver’s license. Within signing.’ ” That partnership, he Vincent Maurice JonesShe Jr., can’t who understandJones collected what she’s four ticketswords “Access for Funding.” months of buying a Ford sedan, said, would evaporate. didn’t graduate from highsigning.’ school, ” Thatoperating partnership, a vehicle he withoutVincent a li- Maurice Jones Jr., who Jones collected four tickets for But Blumenfeld said perceived was playing video gamessaid, upstairs would evaporate.cense. That car today bakesdidn’t in graduate the from high school, operating a vehicle without a li- conflicts of interest weren’t the in his bedroom. He quicklyBut tired Blumenfeldsun, unused.said perceived was playing video games upstairs cense. That car today bakes in the only matters that discomforted of questions. conflicts of interestMonths weren’t later, the Jonesin struck his bedroom. an- He quickly tired sun, unused. him. “A 10-year-old does not have What happened withonly Access mattersother that discomforted deal with Accessof Funding. questions. Months later, Jones struck an- the mental ability to sell these Funding? “You feelinghim. me, “A they 10-year-oldThis does time, not he have signed twoWhat con- happened with Access other deal with Access Funding. payments, but you see this person got all that money, andthe I mentaldidn’t abilitytracts. to One sell relinquished these Funding? $327,000 “You feeling me, they This time, he signed two con- is 20, but he has the mental brain even get a lot.” How muchpayments, money butworth you see of this future person payments,got allwith that a money, and I didn’t tracts. One relinquished $327,000 capacity of a 10-year-old. ... So was in his settlement?is “What 20, but set- he haspresent the mental value brain of $179,000,even get for a lot.” How much money worth of future payments, with a does this annuitant have the abili- tlement?” capacity of a$16,000 10-year-old. in return.... So Anotherwas in deal, his settlement? “What set- present value of $179,000, for ty to sell these payments?” Jones, 25, came ofdoes age this in annuitant a laterhave dismissed, the abili- offeredtlement?” $34,000 $16,000 in return. Another deal, So Blumenfeld said he adopted house on Mosher Street,ty to which sell thesefor payments?” a stream of paymentsJones, that 25, came of age in a later dismissed, offered $34,000 a third and final role, this time as today stands abandonedSo Blumenfeld and totaled said $336,000he adopted and hadhouse a pre- on Mosher Street, which for a stream of payments that something of a broker. He boarded up. Lead paintaso third infest- and finalsent role, value this time of $195,000. as today In all,stands abandoned and totaled $336,000 and had a pre- shopped around clients between ed its interior that onlysomething a few walls ofJones a broker. seemed He willingboardedto sell up. Lead paint so infest- sent value of $195,000. In all, several purchasing companies, he were free of it, accordingshopped to rec- around$663,000 clients betweenof his settlemented its interior for that only a few walls Jones seemed willing to sell said, to secure better deals. One ords filed in a lead-paintseveral lawsuit purchasing$50,000. companies, he were free of it, according to rec- $663,000 of his settlement for client was lead victim Kevin Ow- that Jones settled in 2008.said, “Just to secure a betterThe official deals. reason One statedords infiled the in a lead-paint lawsuit $50,000. ens, who wanted to sell hundreds lead pit,” was what oneclient Baltimore was leadtwo victim spring Kevin 2014 Ow- affidavitsthat Jones was settled in 2008. “Just a The official reason stated in the of thousands of dollars’ worth of pediatrician called it inens, a deposi- who wantedpuzzling. to sell hundreds Jones, wholead had pit,” just was what one Baltimore two spring 2014 affidavits was payments. He committed to tion. of thousands ofbought dollars’ the worth house of hepediatrician and his called it in a deposi- puzzling. Jones, who had just Access Funding but backed out When Jones was 2 yearspayments. old, his Hemother committed share using to moneytion. from a bought the house he and his after Blumenfeld spoke with him. blood carried 16 microgramsAccess Funding — structured-settlement but backed out When deal, Jones was 2 years old, his mother share using money from a In a lawsuit dismissed in March, triple the level consideredafter elevat- Blumenfeldhadn’t spoke needed with him. to payblood rent carried for 16 micrograms — structured-settlement deal, Access Funding accused Blumen- ed — before shooting toIn 28. a Then lawsuit it dismissedmonths. But in March, he signed antriple affidavit the level considered elevat- hadn’t needed to pay rent for feld of interference with business dropped to 16 before risingAccess to Funding 22. compiled accused by Blumen- Access Fundinged — before say- shooting to 28. Then it months. But he signed an affidavit practices and unjust enrichment. Even at age 8, lead stillfeld coursed of interference at ing he with intended business “to purchasedropped [a] to 16 before rising to 22. compiled by Access Funding say- Around that same time, the high levels in his bloodstream.practices and unjustdown enrichment.payment on a house.Even at Be- age 8, lead still coursed at ing he intended “to purchase [a] Maryland Attorney Grievance Soon, he was repeatingAround grades, thatcause same I am time, currently the unemployed,high levels in his bloodstream. down payment on a house. Be- Maryland Attorney Grievance Soon, he was repeating grades, cause I am currently unemployed, ABCDE

METROTHURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015 Tighter rules sought for Md. settlement buyouts

by Terrence McCoy resulted in what are known as structured settlements. Traditional settlements are Maryland lawmakers on Wednesday paid out in one lump sum. But these agree- called for strengthened legislation that ments often dispense payments across would tighten restrictions on an indus- decades under the argument that doing so try that buys settlement payments amid protects vulnerable recipients from imme- mounting criticism that some of the busi- diately spending all of their money. nesses profit off the poor and disabled. This has made Baltimore a primary Members of the House of Delegates target for companies interested in buying and Attorney General ­Brian E. Frosh (D) settlement payments. In 2000, Maryland pressed for increased scrutiny of these inked the Structured Settlement Protec- transactions after an article in The Wash- tion Act for vulnerable residents. It called ington Post detailed how companies often upon county judges to determine whether strike deals with victims of lead poisoning these deals reflect the seller’s best interests. that deliver dimes on the dollar. But according to The Post’s analysis, “My office is going to be looking into this has not averted what critics call preda- this,” said Frosh, who also called on the tory deals between purchasing companies General Assembly to strengthen legisla- and victims of lead paint poisoning, who tion. “And we’re going to be looking into a are overwhelmingly black and poor. One number of different aspects of these trans- person sold decades worth of payments actions.” that totaled nearly $574,000 — and had a Baltimore’s long struggle with lead present value of $338,000 — for less than paint poisoning has generated thousands $63,000. Another young woman, who of cognitively disabled residents and a glut court records say was diagnosed with “mild of lead paint lawsuits, some of which have mental retardation,” sold all of her pay- THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 2

ments through 2030 over four deals and is tant to make sure the system in which these now homeless. companies operate functions well, striking Frosh said he was angered by these a balance between settlement recipients’ anecdotes. “My blood is still boiling,” he vulnerability and firms’ desire for profit. said. He added: “If they aren’t incompetent, “There’s a group of legislators inter- they’re certainly impaired and deserve and ested in working on this, and, hopefully, need the protection of the courts. There are we’ll be able to address the issue,” Del. Ari- safeguards in Maryland’s law, but they’re ana B. Kelly (D-Mongtomery) said. “I know obviously not working 100 percent of the I have talked to more than a dozen legisla- time.” tors” about working on amendments. Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Balti- Specifically, she said, the legislation more) said he is working on amendments should require companies to file their pur- that would place greater requirements on chase petitions in the county where the purchasing companies. The amendments, settlement recipient lives. Without that which he hopes to introduce in January, prerequisite, critics said, something called will address concerns over how companies “forum shopping” can proliferate, in which do business with victims of lead paint poi- purchasing companies seek pliable judges soning. for petitions. In Maryland, many filings “We will absolutely address this prob- cluster in Montgomery, Howard and Prince lem that you’ve raised,” said Rosenberg, George’s counties. But few go through Bal- adding that he was working on crafting timore City, where most victims of lead amendments to strengthen the law before poisoning reside. The Post published its report. John R. Stierhoff, a government Depending on whom you talk to, the affairs attorney in Baltimore, is working structured settlement purchasing indus- on the legislation with Rosenberg. He said try is either one that gets money to people the initial act is only a “few pages. I think who need it now or a cluster of companies we’re going to triple the size. It’s a signifi- that profit off disability. Industry advocates cant rewriting and updating of the act.” He highlight deals that have staved off home- said he wants Maryland’s act to “address lessness or put children through school. all of the concerns that have been raised, But critics said vulnerable residents may because there certainly are a lot of them.” unwittingly sign away fortunes for little in He said he wants to get it passed in the return. 2016 legislative session. That is why officials said it is impor- [email protected] KLMNO

. METHURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015TWASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONALRO EZ SU B

THE DISTRICT MARYLAND OBITUARIES It’s called “Districtland,” Gov. Hogan reports a Frank E. Petersen Jr. was and it’s a low-budget Purple Line funding deal the Marine Corps’ first television show that stars with Montgomery and black pilot and its first the capital city itself. B3 Prince George’s.B3 black general. B5

Panda cub’s death “This has to stop. Your peace is gone when ‘was devastating’ something like this happens.” Alvina Smith, at a vigil for a recent homicide victim

chief veterinarian Don Neiffer said. At the National Zoo, The death of the cub, whose sex staffers worked six hours was never determined, was a huge blow to the zoo, which had been to save the tiny bear overjoyed by the birth of giant panda twins — only the third time that had happened in a U.S. zoo. BY MICHAEL E. RUANE “We were so incredibly hope- AND JULIE ZAUZMER ful,” Brandie Smith, the zoo’s asso- ciate director for animal care sci- The keepers knew almost as ences, said Wednesday. “When we soon as they carried the giant realized the cub wasn’t going to panda cub from its mother make it, it was devastating.” Wednesday in a cooler filled with Zoo director Dennis Kelly said: warm towels that something was “This is a hard loss for us.” wrong. It was second time in three Even though the 4-day-old cub years that the zoo has lost a panda had seemed fine and had spent the cub shortly after birth. On night with the National Zoo’s fe- Sept. 16, 2012, Mei Xiang gave male giant panda, Mei Xiang, it birth to a cub with liver abnormal- was clear that something had ities, and it died six days later. changed. The cub was lethargic, The cubs are extremely small less vocal, and seemed to have and fragile when they are born. trouble breathing. The second twin and its moth- Thus began, at 7:15 a.m. er were doing fine Wednesday, Wednesday, a frantic six-hour ef- the zoo said. fort to save the life of one of the Weary staffers recounted the twin giant pandas born at the zoo deceased cub’s last hours at the on Saturday. zoo Wednesday afternoon. It ended, after veterinarians The cub had been born at had given the cub oxygen, CPR 5:35 p.m. Saturday, weighing and resuscitation drugs, and about three ounces. Its larger worked on it for minutes after its twin was born at 10:07 p.m. Satur- heart and respiration stopped. day, weighing 4.8 ounces, the zoo “We kept going, and we kept said. listening, and then at 2:05, I said, Keepers had been switching ‘Sorry, guys, we’re done,’” the zoo’s PANDA CONTINUED ON B8 ‘It’s a new level of depravity’ Brazen shootings at parks and recreation centers in Prince George’s County are part of a wider trend, police say

BY LYNH BUI year in the Prince George’s Coun- ty division of the Maryland- B4 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST . THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015 In the parking lot of the Brad- National Capital Park Police. MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST bury Heights Recreation Center In most years, the department, Mara Strock, center, watches a news conference announcing that in Suitland, candles flickered which is responsible for patrol- one of the giant panda cubs had died at the National Zoo. and tears fell Thursday as dozens ling 28,000 acres in Prince THE DISTRICT who knew J.R. Reid Franklin George’s, would respond to one gathered around his mother, or two shootings or homicides in Fern Franklin, and two other the county, said Lt. Brian Waters, women who were chastising the a department spokesman. But in Put McDonnell behind crowd. the first eight months of 2015, the Chief: Petty disputes a ‘common theme’ in wave of killings “You’re cowards,” Alvina county’s Park Police officers have Smith said. “What’s wrong with responded to six shootings — BY ABIGAIL HAUSLOHNER trial or on probation or parole at text — violence is spiking in putting up your hands?” three of them resulting in homi- bars, U.S. official says AND AARON C. DAVIS the time of the crime — a “ several other major cities — as “It’s not right for you to kill cides — in or around parks and substantial increase” from the 15 well as the growing prominence each other,” Victoria Lee, 56, told recreation centers. One recent homicide started under supervision in all of 2014. of synthetic drug use nation- manding showing” required to them, pointing her finger sharp- “It’s extraordinary to us and as a dispute after one person • Of 136 people arrested in wide. In filing, solicitor general maintain his freedom as he tries to ly. “Back in the day, you would something we don’t typically see elbowed another at a nightclub. connection with violent crimes in In Wednesday’s statement, she persuadethenation’shighcourtto fistfight, but now all you want to in our park system,” Waters said Another started as an argument the District, 20 percent tested noted first that three out of four says chief justice should hear his case. do is bring out guns and knives of the 120-officer force, which between two brothers and ended positive for synthetic drug use. cities surveyed by the Major reject extended release In a 40-page filing, Solicitor and shoot each other. You’re usually deals with nuisance com- in a fatal gunshot. And there was (Lanier did not, however, list Cities Chiefs Association, which General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. said punks!” plaints, noise violations, public the shooting that resulted from synthetic drug use as a motive for convened in the District in Au- that Chief Justice John G. Roberts The women yelling at the drunkenness and crowd control. “one party [looking] at the other any of the homicides.) gust, have had a rise in homi- Jr. should reject McDonnell’s re- crowd were mourning Franklin Some of the shootings appear party in the wrong manner.” • In the 7th Police District, in cides. Thirty percent reported an BY MATT ZAPOTOSKY quest to remain out on bail while at the candlelight vigil, but they to be connected, and they have Those were some of the recent Southeast Washington east of the increase in violent crime in his attorneys prepare to seek a also were distressed by the vio- PHOTOS BY MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST all been unsettling. There was motives for homicides, published Anacostia River, homicides have which the offender was under The U.S. solicitor general on Supreme Court challenge — an lence they’ve seen recently in Fern Franklin, at top, joins other the springtime shooting outside online by D.C. police Wednesday, increased 95 percent. The the influence of synthetic drugs, Wednesday essentially urged the outcome that would kick-start the their communities. mourners at a vigil for her son, J.R. of Northridge Park in Bowie and a day before D.C. Mayor Muriel E. 5th District in upper Northeast, she said. Supreme Court’s chief justice to process to put McDonnell behind Franklin’s slaying was the lat- Reid Franklin, in the parking lot of the the gunfire a month later, in May, Bowser (D) is expected to pro- along the Maryland border, has But local critics, including send former Virginia governor bars, probably in a few months. est in a rising number of shoot- Bradbury Heights Recreation Center at Highland Gardens Park in pose a plan to stop a wave of had a 67 percent increase. some community leaders and Robert F. McDonnell to prison Verrilli argued that the Su- ings and homicides reported this in Suitland, Md., where he was killed. VIOLENCE CONTINUED ON B2 killings that has inspired fear and The information, which did members of the police union, while he pursues his last legal preme Court was not likely to anger among city residents. not include suspected motives have suggested that other rea- avenue to overturn his public cor- agree to hear McDonnell’s case, let The report represented the for all of the 103 homicides sons, including Lanier’s consoli- ruption convictions, arguing that most detailed information pro- logged this year, also contained dation of the city’s vice squads MCDONNELL CONTINUED ON B2 McDonnell cannot make the “de- vided to date by significant omis- under one unit, the recent legal- police on the sions. The cases ization of marijuana, gang vio- District’s spiking that were listed lence and drugs have also con- homicides, and “The violence does purport to show tributed to the spike. Some D.C. charter schools raise it comes amid that much of the Lanier countered those allega- Md. woman acquitted in Tighter rules sought for mounting pres- not appear to stem fatal violence has tions with statistics in Wednes- millions; others, almost nothing sure from resi- stemmed from day’s report. dents, D.C. from the legalization petty arguments, “The fact is, the violence does cousin’s fatal shooting Md. settlement buyouts Council mem- but it remains un- not appear to stem from the BY ICHAEL LISON schools combined averaged M A bers and police of marijuana.” known whether BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POST legalization of marijuana or dis- CHANDLER $14.5 million a year in donations officers for an- D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier that is true of all D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), seen here at a May news conference, putes over drug markets,” she BY EITH . LEXANDER in the back of the head and once BY ERRENCE C OY “My office is going to be look- from 2012 to 2014; the average K L A T M C swers. of the cases. said. The productivity of the vice through the heart. ing into this,” said Frosh, who also Eight of the District’s 60 public annual donations for all 60 char- spoke with council members to discuss the increase in homicides and the mayor’s plans to address it. D.C. Police Lt. Sean Con- squads had also “dropped pre- The Silver Spring woman After the jury forewoman an- Maryland lawmakers on called on the General Assembly to charter schools raised nearly ter schools over that time frame Chief Cathy L. Lanier also de- boy, a police spokesman, said evacuated when a fire alarm was and they said that Bowser was curve. cipitously” before they were dis- charged with orchestrating the nounced the not-guilty verdicts, Wednesday called for strength- strengthen legislation. “And we’re 75 percent of all charitable funds was $29 million. tailed national trends as well as only 23 cases were listed because set off. candid that her team was still Last week, Bowser announced solved, she said. 2012 fatal shooting of her cousin Claire Rice broke into tears and ened legislation that would tight- going to be looking into a number that went to such schools in the Many leaders of charter schools such local factors as synthetic the motives for the other homi- On Thursday, Bowser is ex- working through potential com- that the city was raising the Lanier said instead that indi- in an effort to secure a $100,000 then hugged her public defenders. en restrictions on an industry of different aspects of these trans- city between 2012 and 2014, high- see fundraising as an important drug use and the release of vio- cides remain unknown. pected to propose making it easi- plications. Among those are situ- reward it offers for information viduals “choosing to settle argu- insurance payoff was found not It was the second time Rice was that buys settlement payments actions.” lighting a serious inequality be- way to advance their missions, lent offenders that she believes Lanier was not the only city er for supervising officers to ations such as when a parolee leading to convictions on illegal- ments or disputes through ex- guilty by a D.C. Superior Court tried in the case. The first, in amid mounting criticism that Baltimore’s long struggle with tween schools that raised millions charitable dollars being a key way have played a role in the crime leader focused on the crime wave check and detain those on parole might be staying with a friend or gun charges. Lanier has flooded tremely violent means” has been jury Wednesday. December, ended in a mistrial some of the businesses profit off lead paint poisoning has generat- of dollars and many that raised to bolster their budgets as they wave. Much of it wasn’t new, but Wednesday. She, Bowser and sev- or probation for violations of family member. Does housing recent flash points with police a “common theme” in 2015’s After a trial that lasted more when jurors were unable to reach the poor and disabled. ed thousands of cognitively dis- little or none. work to build adequate school fa- the package of information eral of her senior staff members officers and said she is working homicides. She included a table than a week, the jury of 10 women a unanimous verdict. Members of the House of Del- abled residents and a glut of lead Just three public charter cilities and offer competitive their terms of release. The plan is that individual subject relatives spent more than three hours in a to bring more cameras and bet- that assigned the number 21 to and two men took less than a day The case has pitted family egates and Attorney General paint lawsuits, some of which schools — KIPP DC, Maya Angelou teacher salaries. But records show seemed to represent an effort to aimed primarily at getting illegal to police entering to search the series of private meetings with ter lighting to high-crime areas. to acquit Claire Rice, 68, of first- members against each other. Brian E. Frosh (D) pressed for have resulted in what are known and E.L. Haynes — reported near- a significant inequality in how get past the struggle to offer a guns away from repeat offend- possessions of the parolee? “arguments,” 16 to “robbery” and council members discussing the Earlier this summer, Bowser and degree murder in the death of One of Rice’s friends cried out, increased scrutiny of these trans- as structured settlements. Tradi- ly half of all fundraising dollars much the city’s charters receive broader explanation for the vio- ers. One aide to the mayor said 7 to “illegal gambling,” among Anthony Rice, 58. Prosecutors had “Thank you, Jesus!” as the verdict actions after an article in The tional settlements are paid out in that went to the city’s charter from donors. lence. uptick and the mayor’s plans to Agreeing to the right ap- that with no single cause that the Lanier announced new legisla- other motives, but it was unclear said she lured her cousin into Fort was read. Willy O. Greffenreid, a Washington Post detailed how one lump sum. But these agree- schools over the three-year period, Although seven schools report- And it included these fresh address it. proach will not be easy. Council city can point to as responsible tion to combat synthetic drug what cases those numbers re- Lincoln Park in Northeast Wash- friend who attended both trials, companies often strike deals with ments often dispense payments according to the D.C. Public Char- ed at least $1 million in donations data points: Bowser met with eight council member Charles Allen (D- for the rise in homicides, Bowser use in the District. ferred to. ington about 2:30 a.m. Dec. 17, wondered aloud: “Now how is she victims of lead poisoning that across decades under the argu- ter School Board’s most recent fi- in fiscal 2014, at least 20 schools • At least 22 of those arrested members — five of them over a Ward 6) and others said they will seek to move forward on a Lanier has also been at pains abigail.hauslohner@ on homicide charges, Lanier said, two-hour meeting at a restaurant raised concerns about that plan number of proposals in hopes to set the District’s homicides washpost.com 2012. Anthony Rice was shot twice RICE CONTINUED ON B4 deliver dimes on the dollar. LEGISLATION CONTINUED ON B4 nancial audit. In total, those three DONATIONS CONTINUED ON B2 were under supervision pending after the Wilson Building was in the meetings with the mayor, that combined they can bend the within a broader national con- [email protected] Not-guilty verdict in deadly shooting RICE FROM B1 Wesson pistol, which prosecutors said was used to kill Anthony Rice. going to get those years back?” Claire Rice also bought a dispos- Rice has been in the D.C. jail able phone and used it to lure her since she was arrested and cousin to the park, detectives said. chargedinMarch2013inAnthony But prosecutors were not able Rice’s slaying. to prove that the bullets used to After the verdict was read, kill Rice were fired from the gun Judge Rhonda Reid-Winston or- Claire Rice purchased. dered Rice released from jail. But Prosecutors said that during in- she will probably remain there at terviews with police, Claire Rice least while she awaits her next changed her story at least twice hearing in a federal prescription when she talked about the last drug case. Jurors in the murder time she saw her cousin. And after case were not told about the feder- her arrest, authorities found the al case. insurance policies stuffed away in In the prescription drug case, a ceiling in the Silver Spring Rice and a co-defendant are house. charged with eight federal counts Prosecutors slightly changed of identity theft, health-car insur- their strategy from the first trial, ancefraudandprescriptionfraud. at which they said that Rice shot Prosecutors say Rice and a friend her cousin. In the second trial, ran up more than $21,000 in pre- prosecutors instead said that Rice scription fraud for such medica- orchestrated the murder but had tion as oxycodone and Vicodin someone else shoot her cousin. and sold the medication to people Still, no one else was arrested, and in the District and Maryland. the gun has not been found. The slaying was a challenging Rice’s attorneys, Katerina Se- case for Assistant U.S. Attorneys myonova and Blase Kearney, ar- Jennifer Kerkhoff and Christine gued that their client was not Macey. There was no DNA. No guilty of the charges and that An- footprints. No eyewitnesses. thony Rice, who had a history of A dog day afternoon Prosecutors said that Claire cocaine use, was killed during a Rice built a comfortable life with drug deal. A ceramic dog sleeps next to the her longtime partner in their Rice’s attorneys also argued grave site of Moses at the Aspin home on a tree-lined street on that their client, who walks with a Hill Memorial Park in Silver Classical Lane in Silver Spring. cane and stands barely 5 feet 2, Spring, Md. Established in The pair often vacationed abroad. was not capable of pulling off such Rice, who worked as a manager at a crime. The attorneys also said 1921, Aspin Hill contains the an Applebee’s restaurant in Lau- that Rice had more than $43,000 graves of more than 50,000 rel, also owned a home in Boston. in stock she could have used to pay animals, including movies stars, At some point, prosecutors off her debts. Rice and her partner World War I heroes and the said, Rice’s lifestyle was threat- still own the houses. ened by debt. Rice was about They also argued that Rice dogs of the first FBI director, $18,000 behind on her mortgage didn’t collect the insurance mon- J. Edgar Hoover. Aug. 26 is payments and was facing foreclo- ey. celebrated annually in the sure on the Silver Spring house, After the verdicts were read, a United States as National Dog prosecutors said. juror said that prosecutors failed Rice had taken out two policies to prove their case. Day. on her cousin totaling $100,000, “If she was going to kill her naming herself as the sole benefi- cousin for the money, she would ciary and paying the premiums. have received the money. She PHOTOS BY GARY CAMERON/REUTERS In late 2012, she bought and didn’t even need it,” the juror said. registered a .38-caliber Smith & [email protected]

tem in which these companies petitions. In Maryland, many fil- operate functions well, striking a ings cluster in Montgomery, Md. lawmakers upset over settlement purchases balance between settlement re- Howard and Prince George’s cipients’ vulnerability and firms’ counties. But few go through LEGISLATION FROM B1 between purchasing companies and need the protection of the was working on crafting amend- desire for profit. Baltimore City, where most vic- and victims of lead paint poison- courts. There are safeguards in ments to strengthen the law be- “There’s a group of legislators tims of lead poisoning reside. ment that doing so protects vul- ing, who are overwhelmingly Maryland’s law, but they’re obvi- fore The Post published its re- interested in working on this, John R. Stierhoff, a govern- nerable recipients from immedi- black and poor. One person sold ously not working 100 percent of port. and, hopefully, we’ll be able to ment affairs attorney in Balti- ately spending all of their money. decades worth of payments that the time.” Depending on whom you talk address the issue,” Del. Ariana B. more, is working on the legisla- This has made Baltimore a totaled nearly $574,000 — and Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D- to, the structured settlement pur- Kelly (D-Mongtomery) said. “I tion with Rosenberg. He said the primary target for companies in- had a present value of $338,000 Baltimore) said he is working on chasing industry is either one know I have talked to more than a initial act is only a “few pages. I terested in buying settlement — for less than $63,000. Another amendments that would place that gets money to people who dozen legislators” about working think we’re going to triple the payments. In 2000, Maryland young woman, who court records greater requirements on pur- need it now or a cluster of compa- on amendments. size. It’s a significant rewriting inked the Structured Settlement say was diagnosed with “mild chasing companies. The amend- nies that profit off disability. In- Specifically, she said, the legis- and updating of the act.” He said Protection Act for vulnerable mental retardation,” sold all of ments, which he hopes to intro- dustry advocates highlight deals lation should require companies he wants Maryland’s act to “ad- residents. It called upon county her payments through 2030 over duce in January, will address that have staved off homelessness to file their purchase petitions in dress all of the concerns that have judges to determine whether four deals and is now homeless. concerns over how companies do or put children through school. the county where the settlement been raised, because there cer- these deals reflect the seller’s best Frosh said he was angered by business with victims of lead But critics said vulnerable resi- recipient lives. Without that pre- tainly are a lot of them.” interests. these anecdotes. “My blood is still paint poisoning. dents may unwittingly sign away requisite, critics said, something He said he wants to get it But according to The Post’s boiling,” he said. He added: “If “We will absolutely address fortunes for little in return. called “forum shopping” can pro- passed in the 2016 legislative analysis, this has not averted they aren’t incompetent, they’re this problem that you’ve raised,” That is why officials said it is liferate, in which purchasing session. what critics call predatory deals certainly impaired and deserve said Rosenberg, adding that he important to make sure the sys- companies seek pliable judges for [email protected] ABCDE

METROMONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 Crackdown on structured-settlement buyouts

PR. GEORGE’S COURT son, who heard the petitions to purchase TIGHTENS RULES structured-settlement payments, no longer presides over the transactions. Payment buyers accused The changes come as criticism of com- of profiting from poor panies that purchase settlement payments is mounting following a report in The by Terrence McCoy Washington Post last month that showed firms routinely buy payments belonging to The Prince George’s County Circuit victims of lead-paint poisoning for dimes Court has implemented significant reforms on the dollar. to how it handles companies’ petitions Members of Congress have since called to purchase settlement payments amid for investigations. Maryland lawmakers mounting scrutiny of an industry that crit- have urged stronger legislation. And offi- ics say profits from poverty and despera- cials with the state Court of Appeals Stand- tion. ing Committee on Rules of Practice and All sellers must now appear at hear- Procedure this month said it is drafting ings where a judge decides whether the rules to “ensure accountability and trans- proposed deal is in their best interest. parency during these proceedings.” Independent professional advisers, who The latest critic is Prince George’s are required by Maryland law to advise set- County Administrative Judge Sheila R. tlement recipients, must also now appear Tillerson Adams. She has reviewed numer- at the hearings. All petitions must now ous cases filed by a company called Access be filed using the seller’s full name, rather Funding. The Post last month reported than initials. And Judge Herman C. Daw- that the Chevy Chase company petitioned MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 2

Prince George’s County Circuit Court more judges between 2004 and 2006, didn’t than 170 times since 2013. The cases often return several requests for comment. involved victims of lead-paint poisoning, Access Funding chief executive who were overwhelmingly black and poor. Michael Borkowski also didn’t return Dawson, who didn’t respond to requests requests for comment. But he said in a for comment, approved the petitions at a statement in May that using initials is rate of roughly 90 percent. standard practice across the industry. Adams now says that the petitions “Similar to much of our competition, and require more scrutiny. She was troubled by at the request of many of our annuitant what she called the “commonality” among clients to keep their personal and financial the cases. The same independent adviser information private, during [2014] Access worked on a large number of the Access Funding began filing using annuitant ini- deals. State law specifies that the adviser tials and redacting personal and financial cannot be affiliated with the purchasing information from the public documents,” company. he said. “When you look at the files and see the The practice of filing a petition using commonality of the quote-on-quote inde- the seller’s initials is symptomatic of the pendent adviser, you see the cases require a lengths companies undertake to ensure different level of scrutiny,” she said. competing firms don’t poach clients with Adams said the way in which Access structured settlements by trolling online Funding attorney Anuj Sud filed some of records, experts said. These agreements, as the cases also concerned her. Nearly 80 of opposed to traditional settlements, eke out Access Funding’s petitions were filed using payments across decades so as to protect the initials of the seller. Relevant informa- vulnerable recipients from immediately tion — ages, addresses, signatures, names spending their compensation. — were redacted from some of those “It’s a very competitive industry,” said records. Bethesda attorney Elyse Strickland, who “When I looked at these cases, and has filed scores of petitions to purchase I saw the same attorney and the same structured-settlement payments in coun- adviser and the initials and no reason for ties across Maryland. “And so you want to them to be filed with initials and no rea- protect your business and your file. That’s son that I dictated that these cases should a way that companies protect themselves be redacted, that was a cause of concern,” from other companies.” Adams said. “And there were many changes Loopholes in Maryland law can also that were implemented.” benefit the companies. Unlike New York Sud, a College Park attorney who and Oregon, for example, Maryland doesn’t worked as a clerk for two Prince George’s make purchasing companies file their peti- MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 3

tions in the seller’s county of residence, Bridgers said, companies have hounded which could make it easier for annuitants her with phone calls. She ultimately had to to appear in court. Critics say this omission change her phone number. also gives rise to a practice called “forum “They try to say they can give a bet- shopping,” in which purchasing compa- ter deal,” Bridgers recalled several months nies seek out less-scrutinous judges. Those ago in an interview. “But it don’t matter firms “find the squeaky wheels, where who you go with, they’re all the same.” She things aren’t as enforced as much . . . and added: “I was a fool. I don’t want to talk the judge simply looks at the affidavit,” said about it anymore, because the more I talk John Darer, who operates a blog monitor- about it, the more I get mad.” ing the industry. In all, Bridgers has done at least six Petitions involving Maryland’s lead structured-settlement deals. Four have victims cluster in Montgomery, How- been with Access Funding. But you wouldn’t ard and Prince George’s counties — any- know that by placing her name into the where but Baltimore City, the jurisdiction Maryland court search. That’s because two where most of the lead victims live. Access of the deals that Access Funding filed only Funding says it has overwhelmingly filed used her initials. One called her “Tamika in Prince George’s County because that’s B” and another called her “T.B.” where its attorney’s office is located. The day Bridgers was called T.B. in Companies working Baltimore’s Prince George’s County Circuit Court streets try to get a leg up on the competition came last April. That morning, Dawson any way they can — with advertisements, had 11 Access Funding petitions to pur- referrals, and by searching for annuitants chase structured-settlement payments on in court records. his docket. Sud was present representing In interviews, seven victims of lead- Access, but none of the sellers attended paint poisoning who had sold payments the hearing. Each deal was filed using the complained about how often purchasing seller’s initials. companies call them. Some changed their One was Lydell Todman. He wanted telephone numbers. Others began ignoring to sell $1.7 million worth of his settlement calls from certain numbers. Others said — which had a value of $1.3 million — for they felt like targets. about $330,000, or about 25 cents on the In August 2009, Tamika Bridgers dollar. His case was filed under “N.T.” was awarded a $700,000 settlement as a No one objected to the proposed deals. result of a lead-paint lawsuit. In late 2012, And within four minutes, according to an she struck her first deal with purchasing audio recording of the hearing, Dawson company J.G. Wentworth, which logged approved all 11 deals. her name in the public record. Since then, [email protected] KLMNO

. MEMONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015T WASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONALRO EZ M2 B

High at approx. EDUCATION JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON VIRGINIA 4 p.m. ° Hank Green has become The curious connection Charles Severance hinted 77 one of the country’s most between Elvis Presley, to a jail informant that he 8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m. Precip: 0% popular science teachers Richard Nixon and the “committed the murders,” ° ° ° ° Wind: WNW 58 72 77 71 8-16 mph via his video lessons. B2 National Zoo’s pandas. B3 a prosecutor filing says. B4 Crackdown on structured-settlement buyouts Suspected bus shooter BY TERRENCE MCCOY ington Post last month that She has reviewed numerous cases viser worked on a large number PR. GEORGE’S COURT showed firms routinely buy pay- filed by a company called Access of the Access deals. State law The Prince George’s County TIGHTENS RULES ments belonging to victims of Funding. The Post last month specifies that the adviser cannot Circuit Court has implemented lead-paint poisoning for dimes reported that the Chevy Chase be affiliated with the purchasing had prior significant reforms to how it han- on the dollar. company petitioned Prince company. dles companies’ petitions to pur- Payment buyers accused Members of Congress have George’s County Circuit Court “When you look at the files and chase settlement payments amid of profiting from poor since called for investigations. more than 170 times since 2013. see the commonality of the quote- gun offense mounting scrutiny of an industry Maryland lawmakers have urged The cases often involved victims on-quote independent adviser, that critics say profits from pov- stronger legislation. And officials of lead-paint poisoning, who you see the cases require a differ- erty and desperation. using the seller’s full name, rather with the state Court of Appeals were overwhelmingly black and ent level of scrutiny,” she said. All sellers must now appear at than initials. And Judge Herman Standing Committee on Rules of poor. Dawson, who didn’t re- Adams said the way in which Man jailed only 4 months hearings where a judge decides C. Dawson, who heard the peti- Practice and Procedure this spond to requests for comment, Access Funding attorney Anuj in a D.C. case that shows whether the proposed deal is in tions to purchase structured- month said it is drafting rules to approved the petitions at a rate of Sud filed some of the cases also their best interest. Independent settlement payments, no longer “ensure accountability and trans- roughly 90 percent. concerned her. Nearly 80 of Ac- sentencing complexities professional advisers, who are presides over the transactions. parency during these proceed- Adams now says that the peti- cess Funding’s petitions were required by Maryland law to ad- The changes come as criticism ings.” tions require more scrutiny. She filed using the initials of the vise settlement recipients, must of companies that purchase set- The latest critic is Prince was troubled by what she called seller. Relevant information — BY PETER HERMANN also now appear at the hearings. tlement payments is mounting George’s County Administrative the “commonality” among the ages, addresses, signatures, All petitions must now be filed following a report in The Wash- Judge Sheila R. Tillerson Adams. cases. The same independent ad- COURT CONTINUED ON B4 D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser used a news conference last week to urge residents to help police find the man accused of shooting at a Metrobus and wounding a passenger. Rolling in the sun But there was another reason she focused on the suspect, Bijon Lam- ont Brown. The 20-year- old, accord- ing to police, Bijon Brown is among the convicted gun offenders who are fueling a wave of summer vio- lence. “We want to especially follow what his experience has been in the criminal justice system,” Bowser (D) said. Just two months ago, Brown admitted to shooting a youth in the legs in a February attack on a basketball court in Southeast Washington and tossing the gun into the Anacostia River. As part of a deal with prosecutors, the only time he spent behind bars was the four months between his arrest in March and his sentence in July. D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. La- nier said a law enforcement task force formed in 2007 now plans to track gun offenders such as Brown — through arrest, trial, sentencing and release — to determine how so many are returning so quickly to the streets after their crimes. B4 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST . MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2015 Court records in Brown’s earli- er case show the complexity of such sentencing decisions, with a more nuanced look at what may VIRGINIA appear to be a lenient deal. Law- yers on both sides noted that he MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST pleaded guilty after making a Pr. George’s court quick and remorseful confession. Jail informant could testify at trial in 3 slayings The comfortable temperatures and light breezes on Sunday drew people outdoors, including these skateboarders in Olney, Md. He grew up in one of the District’s most violent neighborhoods. He BY MATT ZAPOTOSKY Today’s weather, with temperatures in the mid­ to upper 70s, should be even more delightful. See forecast on B6. had no prior convictions as an reforms purchases adult. He had been attacked be- Prosecutors might have an- fore. And the youth he shot re- COURT FROM B1 ery, Howard and Prince George’s other key witness in the case fused to cooperate with authori- counties — anywhere but Balti- against the alleged Alexandria se- ties. names — were redacted from more City, the jurisdiction where rial killer: a jailhouse informant. The U.S. attorney’s office did some of those records. most of the lead victims live. In a court filing late last week, not oppose Brown’s bid for one “When I looked at these cases, Access Funding says it has over- prosecutors revealed that they are year of probation, and a prosecu- and I saw the same attorney and whelmingly filed in Prince mulling whether to call the in- Alexandria streets with tor agreed the defendant had the same adviser and the initials George’s County because that’s formant as a witness at the trial “made significant progress and no reason for them to be filed where its attorney’s office is locat- next month for 54-year-old toward rejoining the community.” with initials and no reason that I ed. Charles Severance, who is charged Rebel ties could change But less than one month after dictated that these cases should Companies working Balti- with fatally shooting three well- the plea, Brown found himself be redacted, that was a cause of more’s streets try to get a leg up known Alexandria residents over back in the cross hairs of police — concern,” Adams said. “And there on the competition any way they a roughly 10-year period. hoisting the Confederate flag charged in the Aug. 21 shooting on were many changes that were can — with advertisements, refer- The informant, who was incar- Amid growing sensitivity from traffic-light poles near the the bus. Police said they believe he implemented.” rals, and by searching for annui- cerated with Severance at the Lou- statute on Confederate memorial was shooting at someone, and a Sud, a College Park attorney tants in court records. doun County Adult Detention to Confederate links, city days — joining a growing list of bystander was struck. who worked as a clerk for two In interviews, seven victims of Center, claims Severance had “in- to weigh renaming roads state and local governments that That Friday night shooting Prince George’s judges between lead-paint poisoning who had timated” to him that he “commit- have reined in displays honoring came amid a surge in violence that 2004 and 2006, didn’t return sold payments complained about ted the murders,” prosecutors the Confederacy. police have attributed partly to several requests for comment. how often purchasing companies wrote. They said that Severance On Hume, residents say the more guns on the street and to Access Funding chief executive call them. Some changed their provided the informant “corrobo- BY PATRICIA SULLIVAN reconsideration of the city’s long- repeat offenders. Lanier said that Michael Borkowski also didn’t telephone numbers. Others be- rating details” about one of the established Southern roots is more than half of the people ar- return requests for comment. But gan ignoring calls from certain slayings that seemed to suggest MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST Hume Avenue sits just off Alex- complicated. rested so far in this year’s homi- he said in a statement in May that numbers. Others said they felt the informant was telling the An informant claims Charles Severance “intimated” that he “committed the murders,” prosecutors say. andria’s Jefferson Davis Highway, “I have mixed feelings,” said cides had prior gun arrests in the using initials is standard practice like targets. truth, although they did not speci- behind the National Tire and Maria Wasowski, who was gar- District, helping drive a 47 percent across the industry. “Similar to In August 2009, Tamika Bridg- fy the killing or the details. ords from their time behind bars. erthanthattheircooperationwould in crimes was used in each slaying. Battery store. Like the highway, dening in her front yard on a increase in killings in 2015. much of our competition, and at ers was awarded a $700,000 set- Severance is charged with mur- Prosecutors wrote that they were be “relayed to the government.” Prosecutors wrote that they did On the last weekend in August the three-block stretch of modest recent morning. “People are used the request of many of our annui- tlement as a result of a lead-paint der in the February 2014 slaying of willing to provide or had already That could be important. Pros- not know yet whether they would ASTRID RIECKEN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST alone, police arrested 24 people in homes was named for a Confeder- to the names of streets and don’t tant clients to keep their personal lawsuit. In late 2012, she struck music teacher Ruthanne Lodato, provided much of what defense ecutors seem to have evidence ty- call any of the informants as wit- connection with 34 gun seizures. ate leader, although one not as think of the associations [with A derailment in August caused delays at the McPherson Square Metro station. and financial information pri- her first deal with purchasing the November 2013 fatal shooting attorneys are seeking, and they ing Severance to the Lodato kill- nesses at the trial, and they had well-known as the president of Confederates]. Streets named for Lanier said that 14 of those sus- vate, during [2014] Access Fund- company J.G. Wentworth, which of regional transportation planner also revealed new details about ing: a woman claims to have spot- not spoken to the inmates or their the Rebel states. those who are major figures — pects had been arrested on gun ing began filing using annuitant logged her name in the public Ronald Kirby and the 2003 killing whom investigators had talked to ted Severance driving near the attorneys or negotiated any deals Now both streets could get new that’s different.” charges in the past, several more initials and redacting personal record. Since then, Bridgers said, of real estate agent Nancy Dun- and what they had said. scene around the time of it, a car for their testimony. names, along with at least 31 Her street was named for A platform for riders than once, in connection with rob- and financial information from companies have hounded her ning. Prosecutors have alleged that Prosecutors wrote that four in- that prosecutors assert was Sever- The filings do not name the others in Alexandria, the latest Frank Hume, a former Confeder- beries, burglaries and carjack- the public documents,” he said. with phone calls. She ultimately acustodydisputethatwentagainst mates housed with Severance in ance’s was caught on a surveil- informants, but records in the ripple in a national debate over ate soldier and self-described spy ings. The practice of filing a petition had to change her phone number. him — and a general hatred of the Loudounhadtalkedtopolice,andall lance camera nearby, and a wom- case show that the defense re- the Confederacy that erupted af- who served as a signal scout for “These are the folks that are using the seller’s initials is symp- “They try to say they can give a city’s elite — led Severance to shoot said Severance “discussed at length an who survived the attack might quested to subpoena records from ter the shooting rampage at a Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. Wasowski said of Metro to air concerns driving a lot of the crime in the tomatic of the lengths companies better deal,” Bridgers recalled the three in brazen, daylight at- his obsession with firearms and ha- be able to identify Severance in Loudoun for four inmates who black church in Charleston, S.C., she did not consider it particular- District,” Bowser said, calling for a undertake to ensure competing several months ago in an inter- tacks at their homes. tred of the judicial system.” That, court. But prosecutors have less were in custody for offenses rang- allegedly carried out by white ly offensive. But she would sup- BY AIZ IDDIQUI mute to 90 minutes on trains where review “to hold all of our partners F S firms don’t poach clients with view. “But it don’t matter who you The filing from prosecutors alone, is not significant: Prosecutors evidence tying Severance to the ing from failing to comply with an supremacist Dylann Roof. port renaming Jefferson Davis riders were packed tighter than sar- accountable.” structured settlements by troll- go with, they’re all the same.” She cameinresponsetoarequestfrom already had Severance’s writings to killings of Kirby and Dunning. So alcohol program to breaking and The Alexandria City Council Highway and Beauregard Street This spring, Doug Walker did what dines — and that’s when he could even Bill Miller, a spokesman for the ing online records, experts said. added: “I was a fool. I don’t want Severance’s defense attorneys for prove as much. far, it seems they will be much entering and abduction. Alexan- last week said it would appoint a in the West End, which honors would have seemed unthinkable a year get on. U.S. attorney’s office, said the plea These agreements, as opposed to to talk about it anymore, because information on multiple “inform- But prosecutors wrote that one more reliant on Severance’s writ- dria Commonwealth’s Attorney citizen commission to recom- Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard, who ago: He bought a car. “You would see this crush of people agreement with Brown “was informant claimed Severance had ings, which don’t mention any vic- Bryan Porter and Severance de- mend whether to rename streets designed the Confederate battle For eight years he made his daily trying to get in and then be turned made after a comprehensive re- traditional settlements, eke out the more I talk about it, the more ants” in the case, including police tims by name, and ballistics evi- fense attorney Joe King declined that are linked to the Confederacy flag. commute on Metro. But after moving to away,” he said. “Once or twice, during view of the evidence.” payments across decades so as to I get mad.” notes of their conversations with talked of committing the murders to comment. and whether to remove a statue of Michael B. Wheatley, a music West Springfield last year, he grew wea- really bad days, [trains] would not even “The case presented significant protect vulnerable recipients In all, Bridgers has done at the informants, and the inform- and that none of the informants dence that shows a type of gun and a grieving Confederate soldier on teacher who was leaving a stu- ry of the endless delays and service stop. . . . There was just no room.” legal challenges, including police from immediately spending their least six structured-settlement ants’ housing and disciplinary rec- were offered any agreements — oth- ammunition not typically found [email protected] South Washington Street in Old dent’s lesson on Hume on Friday problems on the Blue Line. Service re- Yes, Metro riders have been com- investigative work, that made this compensation. deals. Four have been with Access Town. The council also voted to morning, said he was in favor of ductions to make way for the new Silver plaining for years, but now many of plea the best possible outcome, “It’s a very competitive indus- Funding. But you wouldn’t know try,” said Bethesda attorney Elyse that by placing her name into the stop a longtime city practice of STREETS CONTINUED ON B4 Line had stretched his evening com- RIDERS CONTINUED ON B6 BROWN CONTINUED ON B4 Strickland, who has filed scores Maryland court search. That’s of petitions to purchase struc- because two of the deals that tured-settlement payments in Access Funding filed only used In past shooting case, complex factors at play counties across Maryland. “And her initials. One called her “Tami- so you want to protect your ka B” and another called her business and your file. That’s a “T.B.” BROWN FROM B1 are why things are the way they Lawrence wrote that Brown Lawrence said in court docu- way that companies protect The day Bridgers was called are in D.C.?” He called for the grew up amid violence in his trou- ments that the shooting, while “a themselves from other compa- T.B. in Prince George’s County given the circumstances,” Miller council to enact mandatory mini- bled neighborhood and had been serious crime,” also “reveals an nies.” Circuit Court came last April. said. He added that prosecutors mum prison sentences for gun “the victim of a series of attacks by immaturity and lack of criminal Loopholes in Maryland law That morning, Dawson had 11 considered Brown’s quick accep- offenders, to give those convicted a large number of individuals who sophistication of an offender who can also benefit the companies. Access Funding petitions to pur- tance of responsibility, his lack of “a certainty of punishment.” repeatedly attacked him with and minimizes the hardships and pov- Unlike New York and Oregon, for chase structured-settlement pay- a prior adult record and the lack of Brown admitted to shooting without weapons on repeated oc- erty he faced growing up under example, Maryland doesn’t make ments on his docket. Sud was cooperation from the victim, the youth on the basketball court casions.” difficult circumstances.” purchasing companies file their present representing Access, but among other factors. in the 2500 block of Pomeroy Once, she wrote, Brown was “Mr. Brown is still a young man petitions in the seller’s county of none of the sellers attended the Delroy Burton, chairman of the Road SE, in Barry Farm, on Feb. stabbed in the back and chest making the difficult transition to residence, which could make it hearing. Each deal was filed us- D.C. police union, questioned the 16. Police initially said he shot two “when he was not able to outrun self-sustaining adulthood,” the at- easier for annuitants to appear in ing the seller’s initials. mayor for holding Brown up as an people, but court documents his assailants.” Lawrence said torney wrote. She urged proba- court. Critics say this omission One was Lydell Todman. He example for the District’s rise in show that he fired on two brothers Brown was attacked again hours tion as “a sentence designed to also gives rise to a practice called wanted to sell $1.7 million worth violent crime. and struck one as they walked before he shot at the youths on the correct his behavior.” “forum shopping,” in which pur- of his settlement — which had a “I think the prosecutors be- from their apartment to a corner court. Brown has a juvenile rec- Prosecutors agreed. Assistant chasing companies seek out less- value of $1.3 million — for about lieved from the defendant’s ac- store. Brown said he fired four or ord, court documents say, but no U.S. Attorney Scott E.Ray wrote in scrutinous judges. Those firms $330,000, or about 25 cents on tions that the arrest scared him five shots but did not mean to hit details were provided. His convic- court papers that Brown’s willing- “find the squeaky wheels, where the dollar. His case was filed enough,” Burton said. Noting the anyone, according to court pa- tion in the basketball court shoot- ness to plead guilty “saved the things aren’t as enforced as much under “N.T.” charges a month later in the bus pers. ing was his first as an adult. people of the District of Columbia ...and the judge simply looks at No one objected to the pro- shooting, he said: “They appear to A police arrest affidavit shows The defense attorney urged the valuable time and resources” in the affidavit,” said John Darer, posed deals. And within four have been proven wrong. But it that detectives at first focused on court to “consider all the unique sparing a trial, and that the gov- who operates a blog monitoring minutes, according to an audio doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to a different man who fit Brown’s circumstances” that led to “his ernment “gives credit to the de- the industry. recording of the hearing, Dawson save these people.” description, but witnesses point- poor choice” in opening fire, and fendant for accepting responsibil- Petitions involving Maryland’s approved all 11 deals. Burton has been critical of the ed police toward Brown after see- she said her client “never tried to ity early in these proceedings.” lead victims cluster in Montgom- [email protected] police chief’s crime strategy, argu- ing surveillance video. Police ar- minimize his responsibility or use Scott also noted that Brown ing that her deployment and man- rested Brown in March after he such as an excuse for his conduct.” “offered an explanation of why he agement decisions have contrib- voluntarily came to the station to Brown enrolled in a summer pro- felt the need to use a firearm and uted to the problem more so than be interviewed. His attorney, Ger- gram at Ballou High School — he expressed regret for making that additional guns or repeat offend- alyn R. Lawrence, wrote in court had a 3.3 GPA in his previous high decision.” ers. He said that Lanier and Bows- documents that Brown acknowl- school — and planned to pursue a As of Sunday, authorities said er “still have not shown why this is edged the shooting “was a terrible degree in mortuary science. Law- Brown was still at large. responsible for the surge in vio- decision” and he “expressed re- rencedidnotreturnrepeatedcalls [email protected] lence. ...How are we supposed to morse continuously during the seeking comment. Neither Brown I-66 Inside the Beltway Project trust them that these few reasons police interview.” nor his relatives could be reached. Lynh Bui contributed to this report. Arlington County, City of Falls Church and Fairfax County Public Information Meetings Monday, October 5, 2015, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Confederate street names might not go the distance Presentation at 7:30 p.m. VDOT Northern Virginia District STREETS FROM B1 diction and because the county 4975 Alliance Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030 would have to seek power for renaming all the streets. such a change from the General Visit Transform66.org to view a live stream of this “We’re Yankees now,” he said. Assembly. meeting at 7:30 p.m. “It’s been a while. They lost. They Arlington County Board Chair should get over it already.” Mary H. Hynes (D) said the board Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. But Jock Murray, a soft-spoken plans to seek such a change so Presentation at 7:30 p.m. former employee of the Library of that the highway can be called Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School Cafeteria Congress who lives on the street, “something comfortable for the 7130 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043 called the push to change street people who live and work on the names “reactionary.” street. Now it’s a hurtful name for Wednesday, October 7, 2015, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. “I don’t know why people har- our African American and incred- Presentation at 7:30 p.m. bor such intense feelings over ibly diverse, welcoming commu- Washington-Lee High School Cafeteria something that happened nity.” 1301 N. Stafford Street, Arlington, VA 22201 150 years ago,” he said. She noted that in Fairfax Coun- Since the church shooting, ty, Jefferson Davis Highway is The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), in partnership with South Carolina has removed the known as Richmond Highway. the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), will Confederate flag from its state- State Sen. Adam P. Ebbin (D- host Public Information Meetings for the Transform 66 Inside the Beltway Project. The project involves converting I-66 to dynamically house grounds, and Virginia and Alexandria) said he thought it priced toll lanes in both directions during morning and afternoon rush Maryland said they would stop KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST would be “very challenging” to hours between I-495 (the Capital Beltway) and U.S. Route 29 in issuing specialty license plates A statue in Alexandria is dedicated to the memory of those who get a bill through the Republican- Rosslyn, along with implementing a series of multimodal improvements that depict the flag. controlled legislature to allow the that benefit the toll users of I-66. Single Occupancy Vehicles (SOVs) fought for the Confederacy. A panel will mull whether to remove it. will now have the option to use I-66 during the morning and evening A Confederate monument in county to change highway names. rush hours in the peak direction by paying a toll, while High Occupancy Rockville, Md., spray-painted rector of the Maryland Democrat- the streets would be “narrow- “Colleagues have asked me that Vehicles (HOV) with two or more passengers (HOV-2+) will ride for with “Black Lives Matter” in July, ic Party, told the Baltimore Sun minded.” if we do this, where will it stop? free. No later than 2021, HOV occupancy requirements will increase from HOV-2+ to HOV-3+. Proposed improvements are intended to is now boxed up in plywood while last week. “Certainly we’ve heard “It was a complicated time, and Some of them consider it to be move more people, enhance connectivity and improve travel reliability county officials decide whether concerns about the fact that these just like today, everyone had their erasing history,” said Ebbin, who on I-66. and where to move it. two founders of the party had own opinion,” Becker said of the lives within a quarter-mile of the Stop by to learn more about the project, discuss your questions with Democratic Party activists in values that don’t really align with Civil War period. “We should nev- highway. “I don’t intend to engage VDOT staff, and attend the formal presentation. Alexandria and Arlington, in the modern party’s values of in- er forget where we came from and in an empty exercise with my Maryland and elsewhere are clusiveness and diversity.” our country’s past, warts and all.” colleagues.” Review project information and project schedule at www.Transform66.org and at the Public Information Meetings. mulling whether to continue to But change has costs. Alexan- Alexandria has a city charter, Back on Hume, resident Bridg- call their annual fundraisers Jef- dria officials estimate that replac- so it has the power to change the et Wendling said she had not been Give your written or oral comments at the meetings or submit them ferson-Jackson dinners, after ing the signs on Jefferson Davis name of Jefferson Davis Highway aware that her street was named to Amanda Baxter, Project Manager, at the VDOT Northern Virginia slave owners Thomas Jefferson Highway would cost $15,000 to if it wishes, the city attorney told for a Confederate soldier who District Office (address noted above). You may also e-mail comments at any time to [email protected]. Please reference and Andrew Jackson. Arlington $50,000, and the price for renam- the City Council last week. (Part settled in the city. “Transform 66 Inside the Beltway” in the subject line. County Democrats have appoint- ing the other 32 streets would be of the road, where it splits into “I did not know that,” she said ed a committee to look into about $300,000. There are 30 separate northbound and south- as she walked her Doberman and VDOT ensures nondiscrimination and equal employment in all programs whether to rename its Jefferson- additional streets in the city that bound segments are named Pat- chatted with a neighbor. “I don’t and activities in accordance with Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If you need more information or special assistance for persons with Jackson Day dinner, and their may have been named for Confed- rick and Henry streets.) But City know if I can articulate this, but I          counterparts in Alexandria are erates, but the historical office Manager Mark Jinks suggested don’t think we should be celebrat- Division at 800-367-7623 or TTY/TDD 711. doing the same. can’t say for sure. that Alexandria should coordi- ing things that offend people. But “There’s a lot of concern about Jim Becker, head of a Northern nate any change with neighbor- I don’t know that our street name State Project: 0066-96A-358, P101 UPC: 107371 the antebellum issues of race and Virginia chapter of the Sons of the ing Arlington, because the high- offends people.” slavery,” Pat Murray, executive di- Confederacy, said renaming all way also goes through that juris- [email protected] ABCDE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2015

in August revealed how some companies Md. panel have paid dimes on the dollar to purchase structured settlements belonging to Balti- backs shift more victims of lead paint poisoning, many of whom are mentally impaired. The settle- in lawsuit ments, which dispense periodic payments across decades, are often used to protect payouts vulnerable recipients from immediately spending their entire payouts. With reforms, hundreds State and federal lawmakers have of structured-settlement since called for changes and investigations. cases may be affected And the Prince George’s County Circuit Court, where one company filed hundreds of petitions that predominantly funneled by Terrence McCoy through one judge’s chambers, has imple- mented major reforms. The committee that advises the Mary- The Post’s article “exposed some very land Court of Appeals approved reforms on significant gaps in judicial procedure man- Friday that could drastically change how dated by the General Assembly back in companies buy the rights to lawsuit pay- 2000, and that put a vulnerable segment outs amid mounting criticism of an indus- of the population at risk,” said Alan M. try that critics say profits off disability and Wilner, the committee’s chairman. “And poverty. because the problem that was exposed The approval by the Standing Com- directly involved judicial proceedings, it mittee on Rules of Practice and Procedure can be fixed by rule.” has the potential to remake how the settle- He said Mary Ellen Barbera, chief ment purchasing industry operates in the judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, state and alter — if not stall — the out- called upon the committee to “clean up the come of hundreds of petitions companies judicial piece of it by rule and do it quick.” file annually to purchase years of payments The proposed changes will be sent to locked inside what are known as structured the court for review and probably will be settlements. approved in November, Wilner said. The suggested reforms come after a The rules would require all petitions Washington Post investigation published to be filed in the residing jurisdiction of SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 2

the payees, who now must attend court have suffered poisoning from lead and won hearings to help the judge decide whether settlements against landlords worth hun- the proposed deal is in their best inter- dreds of thousands of dollars. The over- est. Companies must now say whether whelming majority of the victims are poor, the underlying case involved any claim of African American and have few assets lead paint poisoning or “mental or cogni- beyond their structured-settlement pay- tive impairment.” And independent profes- ments. Selling the payments can provide sional advisers — who counsel payees about needed cash for emergencies, such as the the deals’ implications — must now appear threat of foreclosure or a medical issue, or at the hearings, divulge how frequently help them buy a home or a car. they’ve done business with the purchasing Companies compete for customers companies and detail their investigation — calling them, sending them advertise- into the seller’s mental capacity. ments, sifting through court records for At the hearing, which representatives fresh names. The aggressiveness of that of the structured-settlement purchasing competition, coupled with clients’ vulner- industry, some of whom attended the hear- ability and desperation, can result in deals ing, said the new measures would make that critics call predatory, giving sellers it harder for desperate people to get the dimes on the dollar, if not less. money they need in emergencies. So in 2000, to protect these people, “We’re not evil,” exclaimed Patricia Maryland’s General Assembly approved LaBorde, president of the National Asso- the Structured Settlement Protection Act. ciation of Settlement Purchasers, after It vested the courts with the responsibil- a hearing that at times turned heated as ity of deciding whether the deal was in the committee members questioned indus- seller’s best interests. One of the require- try advocates about their practices. She ments of that approval was for the seller to said the added requirements would inflate seek the counsel of an independent profes- the cost of filing petitions and that cash- sional adviser. Critics say those rules have strapped customers would get less money. failed. The Post reviewed more than 60 “Some of the rules were drafted with- deals, chosen at random, that one purchas- out an understanding of how we operate, ing company has filed since 2013. For each, because there seems to be no understand- the independent adviser was the same per- ing of how we operate,” she said. “I know son. no one believes that we actually care about Members of the state rules commit- our customers, but we actually do. The tee on Friday questioned whether such needs are serious. People don’t come to us advisers were truly independent if com- for light reasons.” panies provide customers with a list of In Baltimore, thousands of children people to call, which LaBorde acknowl- SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 3

edged was industry practice. “This process information and all of the seller’s transac- is supposed to provide a backstop for folks tions. who are vulnerable,” said Douglas Nazar- Michael Croxson, president of ian, a judge on the state’s Court of Special Bethesda-based Seneca One, one of the Appeals. “And the idea of getting a list of nation’s largest purchasing companies, ‘independent’ people that your company said that both the breadth and scope of the works with regularly doesn’t make me” feel proposed new rules were staggering. comfortable, he said. “Last Thursday, when I saw these He added: “This sounds like a dump- rules, I was taken aback by what this will ster fire. I’m struggling with this. I’m sure do to the process,” he said. “These are there are times when [this] is a good idea, really proposed rules that as a practitioner but it sounds like there aren’t many.” are deeply concerning.” He added: “It will Committee members said that com- create undue expense, and I don’t know if panies file petitions that don’t equip some of this stuff can actually be done.” judges with enough information to decide Wilner, however, said the companies whether deals are in the seller’s best inter- had to try to ensure that “the hearings are ests. So firms must now submit — or make real and not just rubber-stamped.” clear that they couldn’t find — a copy of the [email protected] structured settlement, the seller’s contact KLMNO

. MESATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2015TWASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONALRO EZ SU B

High at approx. RELIGION THE DISTRICT OBITUARIES 12 a.m. ° Twenty years after the The pilot of a 6-by-6-inch Read about the lives of an 66 Million Man March, clergy drone flying near the Army colonel, a geologist 8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m. Precip: 5% members talk about Washington Monument and others in the ° ° ° ° Wind: NE 58 62 66 59 7-14 mph Saturday’s celebration. B2 landed in hot water. B3 Washington area. B5

In the futures market Audit finds Md. health site faults

DATA ENCRYPTION, CONTRACT SPENDING Insurance exchange cites progress since 2013

BY FENIT NIRAPPIL

The operators of Maryland’s health insurance Web site im- properly stored Social Security numbers and other customer in- formation while awarding mil- lions of dollars in contracts with- out ensuring the money would be spent properly, according to a state audit released Friday. The audit is the latest in a string of reports uncovering loose spending and rushed decision- making involving the once- troubled Maryland Health Ben- efit Exchange, which the state hurried to create to help enact President Obama’s ambitious fed- eral health-care overhaul. “Obviously they are moving in the right direction, but it’s really unfortunate that taxpayers and citizens have been exposed to so much extra costs and personal privacy risks when so many other states were able to do this more effectively,”House Minority Lead- MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST er Nicholaus R. Kipke (R-Anne Arundel) said Friday. In Germantown, a farmer hops aboard a tractor after checking a row of crops at Butler’s Orchard. Visitors to the Maryland farm, and elsewhere, on The long-awaited review of the exchange’s finances found that Saturday should probably take along their jackets, the Capital Weather Gang says. See the full forecast on B6. officials did not follow rules in awarding more than $100 million in contracts, some without com- petition. In several of those cases, auditors misinterpreted spend- ing policies, health exchange offi- Safety-challenged Metro is placed under federal supervision cials said in a response to the audit. But now, two years after the BY LORI ARATANI ministration officials could in- thority] Metrorail,” Foxx wrote in within the Transportation De- risk of slowing down improve- exchange opened, officials said AND PAUL DUGGAN tervene when safety concerns a letter responding to a pair of partment with more experience ments.” EXCHANGE CONTINUED ON B4 B6 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST . SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2015 arise. Officials could conduct sur- urgent recommendations issued and a larger staff than the FTA. “We believe this approach ac- Metro now is the first U.S. prise inspections and issue direc- last week by the National Trans- The shift also would have sub- complishes the same goals as the subway system placed under di- tives to Metro to immediately portation Safety Board. jected the trouble-prone subway NTSB’s urgent recommenda- rect federal supervision for safe- address safety problems in the The NTSB, which is investigat- system to stricter safety rules tions, albeit with greater speed ty lapses under a plan announced system. ing a smoke incident that killed and tougher sanctions for viola- and within the responsible agen- late Friday by Transportation “This increased oversight one person in January, had rec- tions. cy,” he said. Md. panel The Weather Secretary Anthony Foxx. means that FTA will now directly ommended that Foxx shift the But Foxx said the change, Jack Requa, Metro’s interim . . Day-to-day operations would enforce and investigate the safe- responsibility for safety over- which would have required con- general manager, said he wel- WASHINGTONPOST.COM/WEATHER TWITTER: @CAPITALWEATHER FACEBOOK.COM/CAPITALWEATHER continue under the auspices of ty oversight of [the Washington sight to the Federal Railroad gressional action, would only comed Foxx’s action. “We will backs shift Metro, but Federal Transit Ad- Metropolitan Area Transit Au- Administration, another agency create “confusion and a greater METRO CONTINUED ON B4 in lawsuit Keep your jacket handy Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday OFFICIAL RECORD Partly sunny Mostly sunny Sunny Showers Mostly sunny Sunny Skies will start off partly cloudy, but Temperatures AVERAGE RECORD ACTUAL FORECAST payouts they should become mostly sunny by An evangelical’s changed Doubling down on the future of print the afternoon. But don’t be fooled — it will be noticeably cooler. Expect A Foggy Bottom newsstand dies, but another rises to take its place afternoon high temperatures in the mind in a charged debate With reforms, hundreds low 60s, but a breeze from the northeast at 10-15 mph promises to make it feel colder than that, Film shows activist’s evolution on abortion, guns of structured-settlement especially in the shade. Tonight, skies will be 66° 49° 71° 52° 76° 57° 72° 50° 68° 51° 70° 51° cases may be affected clear and calm, and temperatures will dip to their lowest levels since April in many locations. Lows FEELS*: 67° FEELS: 73° FEELS: 76° FEELS: 72° FEELS: 68° FEELS: 70° BY SARAH PULLIAM BAILEY will range from the upper 30s in some suburbs to CHNCE PRECIP: 5% P: 0% P: 5% P: 55% P: 5% P: 15% the middle to upper 40s downtown. WIND: NE 7–14 mph W: SSW 3–6 mph W: SSW 6–12 mph W: WNW 7–14 mph W: WSW 7–14 mph W: W 7–14 mph For years, the Rev. Rob Schenck BY TERRENCE MCCOY M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M led nonviolent protests as an anti- Reagan Dulles BWI through 5 p.m. abortion activist, focusing on The committee that advises the Friday REGION NATION High 79° 3:00 p.m. 82° 3:25 p.m. 78° 5:00 p.m. abortion as the primary “sanctity Maryland Court of Appeals ap- Low 62° 5:00 a.m. 60° 1:00 a.m. 60° 5:47 a.m. of human life” issue. proved reforms on Friday that Normal 71°/53° 70°/46° 69°/48° Harrisburg Philadelphia But that changed after the could drastically change how Record high 65/41 66/48 94° 2007 94° 2007 94° 2007 Washington Navy Yard shooting companies buy the rights to law- Record low 34° 1889 26° 2001 28° 2001 Hagerstown in 2013 that left 13 people dead. A suit payouts amid mounting criti- Baltimore Difference from 30–yr. avg. (Reagan): this month: –1.7° yr. to date: +1.0° JEFF HUTCHENS 65/42 new documentary called “The Ar- cism of an industry that critics say 64/43 Dover mor of Light” tracks Schenck as The Rev. Rob Schenck, seen in profits off disability and poverty. 64/44 Precipitation PREVIOUS YEAR NORMAL LATEST he decided that one cannot be The approval by the Standing Cape May the documentary “The Armor Washington Annapolis both “pro-life” and “pro-guns.” of Light,” says one cannot be Committee on Rules of Practice 66/49 62/48 63/45 OCEAN: 70° “I’ll be very candid: ‘I haven’t “pro-life” and “pro-guns.” and Procedure has the potential to felt that it’s our issue, until we end remake how the settlement pur- Charlottesville Ocean City up kneeling in prayer, outside the own a firearm for defense purpos- chasing industry operates in the 67/42 62/50 OCEAN: 67° Navy Yard gates in my neighbor- es, is trying to encourage Chris- state and alter — if not stall — the Lexington hood where my apartment build- tians to become more visible in outcome of hundreds of petitions 64/44 ing was in lockdown,” he says in the gun-use debate. Polls suggest companies file annually to pur- Richmond the film that will be released that evangelicals are the largest chase years of payments locked 66/46 Virginia Beach 67/60 Reagan Dulles BWI Norfolk Oct. 30. “So suddenly it goes from religious group most resistant to inside what are known as struc- OCEAN: 66° Past 24 hours 67/57 0.02" Trace 0.01" theoretical to very realistic.” gun-control laws. tured settlements. Total this month 1.95" 1.75" 2.06" On Friday, Tenn. Lt. Gov. Ron “Pastors and the church as a The suggested reforms come af- Kitty Hawk Normal 0.99" 0.95" 1.02" BILL O'LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST Ramsey (R) responded to last whole should be speaking very ter a Washington Post investiga- 68/63 Total this year 36.99" 31.36" 41.55" OCEAN: 69° week’s mass shooting at Umpqua loudly into legislation on guns, tion published in August revealed Normal 31.11" 32.87" 32.90"

Community College in Oregon by especially on the state level,” BY PERRY STEIN The interior of News This newsstand’s owner, how some companies have paid Pollen: High Air Quality: Good saying that “fellow Christians” Schenck said. “Our voices are World is shown in a however, is a bit more opti- dimes on the dollar to purchase Grass Low Dominant cause: Particulates should consider getting a hand- conspicuously absent from the In March 2014, Washing- mirror. The specialty mistic about his seemingly structured settlements belonging Trees Low Moon Phases Solar system gun-carry permit to protect them- discussion and the debate.” ton printophiles mourned newsstand sells foreign anachronistic print-based to Baltimore victims of lead paint Weeds Low UV: Moderate Mold High 4 out of 11+ Rise Set selves. Directed by Abigail Disney (the the loss of One Stop News — and domestic magazines business model. poisoning, many of whom are Sun 7:12 a.m. 6:37 p.m. Moon 4:57 a.m. 5:35 p.m. “When we say, ‘Nobody will grandniece of Walt Disney), an old-timey Foggy Bottom and newspapers. “I have a strong belief in mentally impaired. The settle- Oct 12 Blue Ridge: Saturday, cooler, mostly cloudy morning, Oct 20 Oct 27 Nov 3 Venus 3:31 a.m. 4:37 p.m. New First Full Last ever take my life, I’ll take theirs,’it “The Armor of Light” opens in newsstand filled with rows this, and I’m not going to ments, which dispense periodic T-storms Rain Showers Snow Flurries Ice Cold Front Warm Front Stationary Front Friday's National World Mars 4:06 a.m. 5:12 p.m. partly sunny after noon. High 52–58. Wind northeast 4–8 Quarter Quarter contradicts the Christian life and 1992 with Schenck, a longtime of low- and high-brow, obscure and popular stop because someone says it’s over,” said payments across decades, are of- mph. Saturday night, mostly clear. Low 34–46. Wind light High: Camarillo, CA 107° High: Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia 110° Jupiter 4:22 a.m. 5:18 p.m. message,” Schenck said Mon- antiabortion activist, carrying a publications from around the world. Stephen Bota, the owner of News World. “It is ten used to protect vulnerable re- and variable. Sunday, partly sunny, becoming milder. High <–10–0s 0s 10s20s 30s40s 50s 60s 70s80s 90s100s 110+ Low: Jamestown, ND 26° Low: Summit Station, Greenland –32° Saturn 10:54 a.m. 8:52 p.m. for the 48 contiguous states day. “He is not qualified to issue dead fetus during protests. The storefront in the indoor mall owned a service you need to offer until there is no cipients from immediately spend- 60–66. Wind light and variable. NATIONAL Saturday Sunday Des Moines 74/59/s 84/59/s Oklahoma City 80/61/s 91/63/s WORLD Saturday Sunday Hong Kong 84/67/c 73/69/r Rio de Janeiro 88/73/pc 82/72/pc such a challenge to his fellow “In my community we talk by George Washington University remained need for it.” ing their entire payouts. Atlantic beaches: Saturday, partly sunny, cooler, morning Christians. It’s bad advice.” about the value of every human State and federal lawmakers Detroit 64/48/s 73/55/s Omaha 79/57/s 89/54/s Islamabad 93/70/s 93/70/s Riyadh 100/75/s 98/76/s vacant for more than a year until a new Bota, 49, emigrated from Kenya in 1987 to shower south. High 62–68. Wind northeast 10–20 mph. Albany, NY 59/40/s 69/48/s El Paso 80/60/pc 85/63/pc Orlando 87/70/t 85/68/c Addis Ababa 76/54/pc 74/53/pc Istanbul 71/64/c 75/68/r Rome 67/53/r 69/49/pc Schenck, who says he believes life. Usually that’s in the context tenant moved in last month. attend Howard University, where he deliv- have since called for changes and Saturday night, mostly clear north, partly cloudy south. Low Albuquerque 76/54/s 81/55/s Fairbanks, AK 38/28/sf 41/25/pc Philadelphia 66/48/s 70/51/s Amsterdam 58/39/s 51/36/s Jerusalem 76/62/s 83/64/s San Salvador 89/69/t 89/69/t that most Christians should not SCHENCK CONTINUED ON B2 The new tenant? Well, another newsstand. NEWSSTAND CONTINUED ON B3 SETTLEMENT CONTINUED ON B6 46–58. Wind north–northeast 4–8 mph. Sunday, mostly Anchorage 49/40/pc 49/37/c Fargo, ND 83/53/s 86/49/s Phoenix 97/74/s 100/75/pc Athens 76/70/c 82/69/t Johannesburg 87/59/s 90/60/pc Santiago 69/40/pc 71/46/pc sunny, mostly cloudy south. High 64–72. Atlanta 74/59/t 75/58/pc Hartford, CT 63/39/s 70/47/s Pittsburgh 64/44/s 70/50/s Auckland 61/54/c 62/55/pc Kabul 85/52/s 84/47/s Sarajevo 55/48/r 53/39/r Austin 90/61/s 94/66/s Honolulu 89/78/s 89/76/t Portland, ME 55/39/s 65/47/pc Baghdad 92/69/s 93/69/pc Kingston, Jam. 89/79/t 87/79/t Seoul 64/44/sh 62/46/sh Waterways: Upper Potomac River: Saturday, small craft advisory Baltimore 64/43/s 70/46/s Houston 91/64/s 90/69/s Portland, OR 66/54/r 70/52/pc Bangkok 88/78/t 89/74/sh Kolkata 92/76/pc 93/76/c Shanghai 75/52/pc 69/55/s this morning. Partly sunny. Wind northeast 6–12 knots, gusts to 20 Billings, MT 86/58/s 70/42/c Indianapolis 68/48/s 74/55/s Providence, RI 62/43/s 67/50/s Beijing 61/52/s 70/43/s Lagos 84/77/t 85/77/c Singapore 89/79/pc 89/79/pc knots. Waves 1 foot. • Lower Potomac and Chesapeake Bay: Saturday, Birmingham 75/55/c 79/57/s Jackson, MS 77/52/s 82/52/s Raleigh, NC 66/51/r 71/52/c Berlin 50/32/s 48/31/s Lima 72/62/pc 72/62/pc Stockholm 47/29/pc 47/31/pc small craft advisory this morning. Mostly cloudy, then partly sunny. Bismarck, ND 84/50/s 79/46/pc Jacksonville, FL 81/64/t 76/60/c Reno, NV 85/54/s 84/51/s Bogota 69/47/t 67/47/t Lisbon 71/63/r 71/62/t Sydney 78/63/s 83/64/t Boise 88/56/pc 71/47/s Kansas City, MO 73/57/s 85/59/s Richmond 66/46/c 72/50/pc Brussels 59/39/s 55/36/s London 62/46/pc 60/44/pc Taipei 81/72/c 76/69/c Wind northeast 10–20 knots. Waves 2–3 feet.• River Stages: Boston 59/47/s 68/53/s Las Vegas 93/70/s 93/70/s Sacramento 87/56/s 88/56/s Buenos Aires 61/45/pc 59/47/sh Madrid 71/53/pc 67/55/t Tehran 78/57/s 76/56/s Saturday, the Potomac River stage at Little Falls will fall to near 3.8 Buffalo 58/49/s 66/54/s Little Rock 78/52/s 84/62/s St. Louis 70/53/s 80/63/s Cairo 88/69/s 90/71/s Manila 90/77/s 90/77/t Tokyo 73/64/pc 72/60/r feet. Sunday, holding near 3.8 feet. Flood stage at Little Falls is 10 Burlington, VT 53/41/s 66/50/pc Los Angeles 98/70/s 93/69/s St. Thomas, VI 90/81/pc 90/80/pc Caracas 79/72/t 79/73/t Mexico City 75/53/t 75/53/pc Toronto 61/47/pc 69/53/s Charleston, SC 74/60/r 71/61/c Louisville 72/48/s 76/54/s Salt Lake City 84/60/s 75/51/s Copenhagen 51/41/pc 52/42/sh Montreal 51/43/pc 64/51/pc Vienna 55/41/c 49/37/c Charleston, WV 67/43/pc 72/48/pc Memphis 75/53/s 80/60/s San Diego 90/70/s 85/72/pc Dakar 90/81/s 90/80/s Moscow 38/29/c 37/29/sn Warsaw 46/28/s 45/31/pc Saturday’s tides (High tides in Bold) Charlotte 68/52/r 71/51/pc Miami 88/73/t 85/73/t San Francisco 72/58/pc 74/56/s Dublin 57/48/pc 57/44/pc Mumbai 93/81/t 92/81/t Key: s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, r-rain, Washington 1:34 a.m. 7:06 a.m. 1:58 p.m. 7:29 p.m. Cheyenne, WY 82/55/s 78/41/s Milwaukee 65/53/s 75/58/s San Juan, PR 91/80/sh 91/81/sh Edinburgh 59/43/pc 57/41/pc Nairobi 82/57/pc 82/59/pc t-thunderstorms, sf-snow flurries,sn -snow, i-ice Annapolis 4:08 a.m. 10:33 a.m. 4:36 p.m. 10:45 p.m. Chicago 66/52/s 76/59/s Minneapolis 73/59/s 82/54/s Seattle 63/52/r 64/52/pc Frankfurt 60/41/pc 56/38/s New Delhi 98/75/s 98/75/s Sources: AccuWeather.com; US Army Centralized Cincinnati 67/44/s 72/52/s Nashville 74/47/pc 76/51/s Spokane, WA 73/48/c 63/44/pc Geneva 63/44/s 61/45/pc Oslo 50/43/pc 51/43/pc Allergen Extract Lab (pollen data); airnow.gov (air Ocean City 12:24 a.m. 6:23 a.m. 12:39 p.m. 6:42 p.m. Cleveland 62/48/s 71/52/s New Orleans 85/64/pc 81/62/pc Syracuse 57/44/s 69/50/s Ham., Bermuda 80/71/pc 80/75/pc Ottawa 52/42/pc 66/49/pc quality data); National Weather Service Norfolk 2:13 a.m. 8:28 a.m. 2:34 p.m. 8:47 p.m. Dallas 85/64/s 94/73/s New York City 65/51/s 70/56/s Tampa 85/72/t 85/69/pc Helsinki 41/28/pc 43/30/pc Paris 63/46/pc 61/44/pc * AccuWeather's RealFeel Temperature® combines over a dozen factors for an accurate Point Lookout 12:12 a.m. 6:41 a.m. 12:40 p.m. 6:53 p.m. Denver 85/53/s 83/45/s Norfolk 67/57/c 68/57/c Wichita 78/59/s 89/60/s Ho Chi Minh City 89/74/t 92/75/t Prague 51/33/pc 47/28/s measure of how the conditions really “feel.” Settlement purchasers may face reforms in Md.

SETTLEMENT FROM B1 make it harder for desperate peo- ple to get the money they need in investigations. And the Prince emergencies. George’s County Circuit Court, “We’re not evil,” exclaimed Pa- where one company filed hun- tricia LaBorde, president of the dreds of petitions that predomi- National Association of Settle- nantly funneled through one ment Purchasers, after a hearing judge’s chambers, has implement- that at times turned heated as ed major reforms. committee members questioned The Post’s article “exposed industry advocates about their some very significant gaps in judi- practices. She said the added re- cial procedure mandated by the quirements would inflate the cost General Assembly back in 2000, of filing petitions and that cash- and that put a vulnerable segment strapped customers would get less of the population at risk,” said money. Alan M. Wilner, the committee’s “Some of the rules were drafted chairman. “And because the prob- without an understanding of how lem that was exposed directly in- we operate, because there seems volved judicial proceedings, it can to be no understanding of how we be fixed by rule.” operate,” she said. “I know no one He said Mary Ellen Barbera, believes that we actually care chief judge of the Maryland Court about our customers, but we actu- of Appeals, called upon the com- ally do. The needs are serious. mittee to “clean up the judicial People don’t come to us for light piece of it by rule and do it quick.” reasons.” The proposed changes will be In Baltimore, thousands of chil- sent to the court for review and drenhavesufferedpoisoningfrom probably will be approved in No- lead and won settlements against MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST vember, Wilner said. landlords worth hundreds of The rules would require all peti- thousands of dollars. The over- Don’t fear the reaper tions to be filed in the residing whelming majority of the victims jurisdiction of the payees, who are poor, African American and Looking almost like a missile defense system, these corn heads are part of an attachment to a harvesting machine. The equipment was in now must attend court hearings to have few assets beyond their the parking lot of the Pleasant Valley Produce farm off Route 108 in Laytonsville, Md. help the judge decide whether the structured-settlement payments. proposeddealisintheirbestinter- Selling the payments can provide est. Companies must now say neededcashforemergencies,such whether the underlying case in- as the threat of foreclosure or a volved any claim of lead paint medical issue, or help them buy a ed the courts with the responsibil- independentifcompaniesprovide [this] is a good idea, but it sounds breadth and scope of the proposed poisoning or “mental or cognitive home or a car. ity of deciding whether the deal customers with a list of people to like there aren’t many.” new rules were staggering. impairment.” And independent Companies compete for cus- was in the seller’s best interests. call, which LaBorde acknowl- Committee members said that “Last Thursday, when I saw professionaladvisers—whocoun- tomers — calling them, sending One of the requirements of that edged was industry practice. “This companies file petitions that don’t these rules, I was taken aback by sel payees about the deals’ impli- them advertisements, sifting approval was for the seller to seek process is supposed to provide a equip judges with enough infor- whatthiswilldototheprocess,”he cations — must now appear at the through court records for fresh the counsel of an independent backstop for folks who are vulner- mation to decide whether deals said. “These are really proposed hearings, divulge how frequently names. The aggressiveness of that professional adviser. Critics say able,” said Douglas Nazarian, a are in the seller’s best interests. So rules that as a practitioner are they’ve done business with the competition, coupled with clients’ those rules have failed. The Post judge on the state’s Court of Spe- firms must now submit — or make deeply concerning.” He added: “It purchasing companies and detail vulnerability and desperation, can reviewed more than 60 deals, cho- cial Appeals. “And the idea of get- clear that they couldn’t find — a will create undue expense, and I their investigation into the seller’s result in deals that critics call sen at random, that one purchas- ting a list of ‘independent’ people copy of the structured settlement, don’t know if some of this stuff can mental capacity. predatory, giving sellers dimes on ing company has filed since 2013. that your company works with the seller’s contact information actually be done.” At the hearing, which represen- the dollar, if not less. For each, the independent adviser regularly doesn’t make me” feel and all of the seller’s transactions. Wilner, however, said the com- tatives of the structured-settle- So in 2000, to protect these was the same person. comfortable, he said. Michael Croxson, president of panies had to try to ensure that ment purchasing industry, some people, Maryland’s General As- Members of the state rules com- He added: “This sounds like a Bethesda-based Seneca One, one “the hearings are real and not just of whom attended the hearing, sembly approved the Structured mittee on Friday questioned dumpster fire. I’m struggling with of the nation’s largest purchasing rubber-stamped.” said the new measures would Settlement Protection Act. It vest- whether such advisers were truly this. I’m sure there are times when companies, said that both the [email protected]

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METROTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

2 Md. lawyers under inquiry

STATE INVESTIGATES “Mr. Sud and Mr. Smith have violated SETTLEMENT SALES the Consumer Protection Act if, among other potential violations, they made false Most cases involve poor people statements or conspired to mislead con- exposed to lead sumers in connection with either the solic- itation of advisory services business for Mr. by Terrence McCoy Smith or the inducement of injured Mary- landers to transfer structured settlement Two lawyers who facilitated the sale of payment rights to Access Funding entities.” millions of dollars in settlements belong- The petitions cast fresh scrutiny on ing to victims of lead paint poisoning are an industry that has come under increas- under investigation by the Maryland Office ing pressure since a story published in of the Attorney General for possible viola- The Washington Post in August revealed tions of the state Consumer Protection Act. that companies have purchased millions of In a pair of pleadings filed this week dollars in settlement payments from lead in Montgomery County Circuit Court, paint victims for dimes on the dollar. authorities asked College Park lawyer Anuj The report focused on one Chevy Sud and Derwood lawyer Charles Smith to Chase company, Access Funding, which divulge records that relate to their partici- did deals with dozens of Baltimore resi- pation in the structured-settlement pur- dents who were overwhelmingly poor and chasing industry. In particular, authorities African American, and often cognitively said they are trying to determine whether impaired as a result of lead poisoning. Smith — who advised dozens of vulnerable In all, according to the agency’s inves- people on questionable transactions — had tigation, the company purchased payment an improper relationship with a purchas- streams that totaled $28,723,988 — and ing company or its attorney, Sud. had a present-day value of $21,426,399 — THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 2

in exchange for $6,817,213. “In this man- before they go through. ner, Access Funding entities extracted, at In Maryland, companies often use a minimum, a total of nearly $15 million two lawyers to complete this process. The from poor and vulnerable Marylanders first files the petitions and represents the from June 2013 to August 2015,” the plead- purchasing company at hearings in which ing said. At least half — “and perhaps sub- a judge determines whether the deal is stantially more than half” — of the com- in the settlement recipient’s best inter- pany’s deals involved Baltimore victims of est. The second lawyer offers what’s called lead-paint poisoning. “independent professional advice” to the Sud and Smith have played a central customer as to the deal’s implications. The role in facilitating these deals since 2013. statute specifies that this counselor cannot The men now contend in court papers that be affiliated with the purchasing company. they don’t have to share all of the requested The Post reviewed more than 60 records with authorities because they say Access Funding petitions, chosen at ran- the Consumer Protection Act excludes dom, and Smith was the independent pro- attorney services. fessional adviser on every one. Authorities “That’s just wrong for a number of rea- now say Smith acted in this capacity in all sons,” Maryland Attorney General Brian of Access Funding’s petitions in Maryland Frosh said. “But it’s just wrong.” between June 2013 and June 2015. Attorneys for Smith and Sud didn’t “Smith had an arrangement with the return requests for comment Wednesday. Access Funding entities under which he In e-mails sent months ago, Smith exclusively provided advisory services said: “I have no business partnerships with to Maryland tort victims who had been any company in the structured settlement induced to transfer structured settlement purchasing industry. . . . In all instances, I payments to Access Funding,” the petitions am directly contacted by the [settlement said. One recipient, who is functionally illit- recipient.] . . . I’m not exactly sure how erate and sold payments that had a present [they] come to me. . . . My independence is value of $337,855 for $62,636, sued Smith in no way compromised or at risk.” in June, alleging he never met with her and Structured settlements — as opposed didn’t provide advice on the deal’s “finan- to traditional agreements that pay out in cial, legal and tax implications.” Smith has one lump sum — dispense regular pay- argued she signed paperwork stating she ments across decades to protect vulner- understood the deal. The suit is pending. able people from immediately spending Authorities are now focused on answer- their entire compensation. As a protective ing several questions: Did Access Funding measure, Maryland passed a law in 2000 pay Smith? What affiliations, if any, did he that said the courts must approve the deals have with either Access Funding or Sud? THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 3

“The victim of lead-paint poisoning or it’s always the same entity on the other side some other tort is supposed to have inde- of the transaction, it calls into question pendent advice,” Frosh said. “But if it’s the their independence.” same person giving the same advice, and [email protected] KLMNO

. THURSDAYME, NOVEMBER 19, 2015TWASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONALRO EZ RE B

High at approx. MARYLAND JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON OBITUARIES 3 p.m. ° With a student, possibly How Community of Hope Stephen Birmingham 70 armed, still missing, helped a woman reclaim wrote best-selling, 8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m. Precip: 85% Washington College a life blighted by abuse nonfiction sagas of the ° ° ° ° Wind: SSE 62 66 68 62 10-20 mph remained closed. B2 and addiction. B3 American aristocracy. B5 2 Md. lawyers under inquiry

STATE INVESTIGATES SETTLEMENT SALES Most cases involve poor people exposed to lead

BY TERRENCE MCCOY

Two lawyers who facilitated the sale of millions of dollars in settle- ments belonging to victims of lead paint poisoning are under investi- gation by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General for possible violations of the state Consumer Protection Act. In a pair of pleadings filed this week in Montgomery County Cir- PHOTOS BY BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST cuit Court, authorities askedCol- lege Park lawyer Anuj Sud and Derwood lawyer Charles Smith to divulge records that relate to their participation in the structured The punishment fits settlement purchasing industry. In particular, authorities said they are trying to determine whether Smith — who advised dozens of lucky brides-to-be vulnerable people on question- able transactions — had an im- proper relationship with a pur- Gowns seized from an embezzler’s shop go on sale chasing company or its attorney, Sud. BY TARA BAHRAMPOUR end of the week at a fraction of their “Mr. Sud and Mr. Smith have retail value. If it all sells, it will bring in violated the Consumer Protection rony is, in some cases, a dish best $600,000 to $800,000, which will be Act if, among other potential vio- served frothy white. given to the Association of American lations, they made false state- Before being arrested for em- Medical Colleges, the organization that ments or conspired to mislead bezzling $5.1 million from a D.C. was the target of Green’s embezzlement. consumers in connection with ei- nonprofit to keep her unprofitable Green, the owner of Couture Miss Bridal ther the solicitation of advisory IUpper Marlboro bridal boutique afloat, & Formal, was a $56,000-a-year adminis- services business for Mr. Smith or Ephonia Green prided herself on donat- trative assistant at the AAMC, which the inducement of injured Mary- ing ensembles to military brides. Green represents medical schools and teaching landers to transfer structured set- is now serving a 46-month prison term, hospitals and administers the MCAT, a tlement payment rights to Access but on Wednesday two U.S. Marines test used in medical school admissions. Funding entities.” B2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST . THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015 bought a couple of her wedding dresses The sale, held at the Embassy Suites TOP: Marine Staff Sgt. Sharla Shima, The petitions cast fresh scruti- at cut-rate prices. Baltimore Hotel at BWI airport, includ- left, and Sgt. Debra Mendez, right, ny on an industry that has come The dresses were among 2,400 items ed tiaras, shoes, veils and flower girl consider wedding gowns during a sale under increasing pressure since a from her inventory that federal marshals dresses, in addition to other formal of seized property. Tina Lowe, of the story published in The Washing- VIRGINIA MARYLAND seized and the U.S. General Services wear. General Services Administration, ton Post in August revealed that Administration is selling through the GOWNS CONTINUED ON B8 helps. ABOVE: Shima checks her look. companies have purchased mil- lions of dollars in settlement pay- ments from lead paint victims for ABC seeks dimes on the dollar. School closed until Nov. 29 in hunt for student The report focused on one Chevy Chase company, Access dismissal college campus, said G. Adrian speaker of the student Senate, DeArriz, of Church Hill, Md. similar vehicle” to the dark green Funding, which did deals with Baker, police chief of Chester- was suspended by the college and “Like, we can’t even go to school? 1997 Land Rover that Marberger dozensofBaltimoreresidentswho Police continue search Sidwell alumni seek to help residents uprooted by land deal town, Md., where the school is faced expulsion. It’s for our safety but it’s just was last seen driving. were overwhelmingly poor and of lawsuit for Washington College located. Marberger’s parents said On Tuesday, a warrant was worrisome, because nobody’s re- Baker said authorities have African American, and often cog- their son was despondent about issued for Marberger’s arrest on ally sure where he is at the mo- checked social media and with BY EMMA BROWN many of whom are Medicaid pa- of its grounding in Quaker values. those the home serves were sur- nitively impaired as a result of student deemed a threat things going on at school, left four charges: having a dangerous ment.” Marberger’s friends, and have School plans to buy tients, did not find out about the “We respectfully disagree with prised by the announcement of lead poisoning. over arrest quickly and took a rifle case from weapon on school property, hav- DeArriz said that he wonders found no evidence of threats. A group of Sidwell Friends deal until it was already signed, the hands-off — see no harm, hear the sale. In all, according to the agency’s their home. The parents said they ing a handgun, possession of a what will become of Marberg- “It really comes back to just a alumni is raising concerns relat- and their families are scrambling no harm — approach that we “We can assure you, however, investigation, the company pur- nursing facility next BY SUSAN SVRLUGA were unable to reach their son firearm by a minor and illegal er: “I also worry about him, too.” proactive, precautionary meas- ed to the private school’s decision to find alternative high-quality have witnessed so far concerning that during our negotiations rep- chased payment streams that to- to campus AND T. REES SHAPIRO afterward. possession of ammunition. According to police, Marberger ure on the part of the college,” the to purchase a nursing facility that care in a city where that can be the relocation process and the resentatives from the Home ad- taled $28,723,988 — and had a Alcohol control agency Marberger had been a leader in Washington College President was last seen at the Hamburg, Pa., police chief said. abuts the Washington campus, a difficult to get. people affected,” wrote 15 mem- vocated staunchly for the needs present-day value of $21,426,399 says officers not liable for Washington College will re- student government and a frater- Sheila Bair posted an update on Wal-Mart Supercenter on Mon- Bair said Tuesday that there land deal that will displace more The alumni want to see Sidwell bers of the Class of 1978, and two of residents and employees and — in exchange for $6,817,213. “In main closed through the Thanks- nity member; a professor de- the school’s Web site Wednesday, day morning, north of his home- had been no direct threat against vigilantly exercised their fiducia- this manner, Access Funding enti- than 100 of the home’s sick, elder- solidate its lower and upper do more to engage residents and of their siblings from other class- U-Va. student’s injuries giving break, the college presi- scribed him as articulate, highly announcing the unusual move of town of Cheltenham, Pa. the campus but that without help ensure that their transition es, in the Oct. 6 letter. ry responsibility,” Head of School ties extracted, at a minimum, a ly residents. schools on one campus along dent announced Wednesday, as intellectual and extremely well- closing the school through Asked whether there was video knowledge of the student’s In a letter to Sidwell leaders Wisconsin Avenue in Northwest is as seamless and stress-free as Responding eight days later, Bryan Garman and Board of total of nearly $15 million from FBI and police continued an in- versed in military history. Thanksgiving “following the diffi- from the store showing Marberg- whereabouts or his intentions, last month, the alumni said that D.C. The problem, they say, is possible. The school may not have Sidwell officials said they empa- Trustees clerk Margaret Plank poor and vulnerable Marylanders BY . EES HAPIRO tense search for a student who is But school officials said a cult events of the past few days.” er buying ammunition, Baker the school would remain closed the problem is not with the pur- with how the $32.5 million pur- a legal obligation to do that, the thize with Washington Home wrote. from June 2013 to August 2015,” T R S believed to be armed and is con- prank in early October upset Mar- “Based on our continuing con- noted that it is not illegal to buy until the situation is resolved. chase of Washington Home, chase unfolded. alumni say, but it has a moral residents and their families and As for assisting with residents’ the pleading said. At least half — Virginia’s alcohol control sidered a threat to the campus. berger; someone apparently put a sultations with law enforcement, ammunition. He said that the Ian Briggs, president of the Phi which will allow Sidwell to con- Washington Home residents, obligation — especially because said it was “unfortunate” that SIDWELL CONTINUED ON B4 LEAD CONTINUED ON B2 agency and the agency’s police It was a third day of uncertain- trash can full of water against the we anticipate that classes will student’s last whereabouts are Delta Theta fraternity chapter on officers who were involved in the ty for the small liberal arts college door to his dorm room so that it resume on Monday, November part of the investigation and he campus that expelled Marberger violent arrest of a University of on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, af- poured in when he opened the 30th,” Bair wrote. “The college couldn’t comment on it. after the Oct. 9 gun incident, Virginia student in March have ter students and staff sheltered in door. The school’s public safety campus will re-open on Sun- Lt. John Frye of the Chelten- wrote in an e-mail, “We hope that asked a judge to dismiss a multi- place during a lockdown Monday director, Jerry Roderick, said that day, November 29th. Students ham Township Police Depart- Jacob is apprehended as soon as Similar views, one boo at Medals for WWII meteorologists lost at sea million-dollar lawsuit filed and then evacuated on Tuesday. Marberger felt as if he were being should plan on returning to cam- ment said Marberger’s cellphone possible, allowing life to return to against them. The alert came after the parents ridiculed or persecuted by a cou- pus on that day.” was last on in Hamburg on Mon- normal for Washington College U.S. House hopefuls’ forum Virginia ABC is arguing in of a sophomore called college ple of students. Washington College fresh- day morning. and all of the members of its Four who died in U-boat attack will be first from National Weather Service to be awarded Purple Hearts court papers that its officers had officials on Monday morning to Two nights later, Marberger man Ari DeArriz, 18, said the Police have received reports of community.” a reason to arrest Martese John- warn that their son was missing. allegedly brandished a pistol at news that the school would be possible sightings of Marberger [email protected] BY BILL TURQUE immigrants now on U.S. soil. BY MICHAEL E. RUANE become the first National Weather Not a shaft of daylight ap- Service employees to get the Pur- son, then a 20-year-old junior, Jacob Marberger, 19, had “sort his fraternity house; he might closed through Thanksgiving un- or his vehicle, Baker said, but [email protected] On the issues, the only major peared among the candidates on The U-boat first spotted the ple Heart for service in the line of outside a bar in Charlottesville in of stormed in” to his family’s have been drunk, school officials settled him. none of them have been con- differences between six of the paid parental leave, pay equity Muskeget’s masts emerging from duty. the early hours after St. Patrick’s home in suburban Philadelphia said. After an investigation, Mar- “It makes me kind of worried to firmed. “I think people are just  Excerpted from seven Democratic primary candi- and the protection of Social Secu- a rain squall in the distance, and They had been eligible for the Day and therefore are not liable in the middle of the night, having berger was kicked out of the know that the school can’t even alarmed,” he said. “I’m told there washingtonpost.com/blogs/grade- dates at Tuesday evening’s 8th rity benefits — core issues for a despite a heavy ocean swell it medal, which during World War II for Johnson’s injuries. Johnson driven to Pennsylvania from the fraternity, resigned his role as continue until he’s found,” said is some poor guy who has a point Congressional District forum primary electorate that is domi- moved in to attack. could be given to civilians killed in received 10 stitches in his head were in degree, not kind. nated by women ages 50 to 70. It was 2:54 on the afternoon of battle, according to Capt. Jeremy after he was pinned to the side- Dels. Kumar P. Barve and Ana The lone dissenting voice was Sept. 9, 1942 in the submarine-in- M. Adams, of the National Ocean- walk by the police officers, who Sol-Gutierrez, state Sen. Jamie B. David Anderson, an academic fested waters of the North Atlan- ic and Atmospheric Administra- arrested him on suspicion of Raskin, former news anchor and education nonprofit execu- tic. The German sub, U-755, was tion, which oversees the weather using a fake ID. Johnson, who is Kathleen Matthews, former tive, who said Matthews and part of a large wolfpack, and the service. black, has said that the ID was White House aide Will Jawando Raskin “represent an establish- U.S. Coast Guard’s aged weather But they had never been put in valid and that he believes his and ex-State Department official ment orthodoxy” that favors ship was a choice target. for it. arrest — by white police officers Joel Rubin all supported an ag- working parents at the expense of Among the 121 men on board That recently discovered lapse, — was racially motivated. gressive response to the attacks in those who choose to stay at home. were four civilian meteorologists along with the U-boat’s grim ac- A video of Johnson’s arrest, Paris, but only in concert with He wants the federal government fromtheU.S.WeatherBureauwho count of the sinking, cleared the with him bloodied and struggling allies. They deplored Maryland to provide tax credits both for were transmitting crucial weather way for the medals, officials said. on the ground, went viral online, Gov. Larry Hogan’s request that working parents who need child reports amid World War II’s Battle Lester S. Fodor, 27, a weather sparking several investigations. the federal government bar Syr- care and for mothers or fathers of the Atlantic. observer from Cleveland, Luther Neither Johnson nor the officers ian refugees from settling in the who opt to stay at home. On Thursday, 73 years after COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION H. Brady, 27, an assistant weather were prosecuted for any crimes. state, and they called for a hu- For the audience of about 300 U-755 stalked the American ship, The USS Muskeget sank on Sept. 9, 1942, after it was struck by observer from Atlanta, George F. Johnson, now 21 and a senior mane path to citizenship for all FORUM CONTINUED ON B4 the four men are scheduled to torpedoes about 400 miles northeast of Newfoundland. SHIP CONTINUED ON B4 majoring in media studies and Italian, filed a federal lawsuit in October against the ABC and the three special agents involved in his arrest, seeking $3 million for his “physical injuries and severe mental anguish due to the egre- gious nature of the Agents’ ac- tions.” The ABC and the officers filed a motion in court Monday seek- ing to have the case dismissed because the officers believe that they had “reasonable suspicion” and that “probable cause existed for, respectively, the plaintiff’s stop and arrest.” In the motion, the ABC also claims that the agency as well as its officers have “immunity” against legal action involving al- legations of negligence under state law. On Wednesday, Daniel Wat- kins, Johnson’s attorney, de- clined to discuss the state’s mo- tion. “We intend to fight this case in the courtroom,” Watkins said. “Because we do not want to improperly influence the jury pool, we have no further com- Forever taking a stand ment.” Johnson’s arrest occurred ear- The University of Maryland Gospel Choir performs at ly March 18 after he had been out the College Park campus’s dedication of Frederick celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with Douglass Square. Nettie Washington Douglass, right, a friends. He was denied entry to descendant of renowned educator Booker T. Washington the Trinity Irish Pub in the popu- lar Corner area near campus and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, spoke during the after he gave the bouncer the ceremony. U­Md. dedicated the memorial to honor wrong Zip code on his ID. A Douglass, a son of Maryland who has come to represent Virginia ABC officer observed the the quest for freedom and the importance of respecting interaction between Johnson and the bouncer and followed the the rights of all people in a democracy. Frederick student as he turned to leave. Douglass Square will act as both a classroom and a What happened next is in dis- monument, educating the university community on pute, largely depending on per- Douglass’s accomplishments as a champion of justice spective. Police have said that while the authorities were trying and equality, as well as celebrating Douglass as a to stop Johnson to see his ID, the continuing inspiration to current and future generations. officer and Johnson collapsed onto the pavement together. PHOTOS BY MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST Johnson wrote in his lawsuit that he was “slammed” to the side- walk. Images and videos capturing the scene showed Johnson with blood streaming down his face as the officers shackled him at the posed to traditional agreements counselor cannot be affiliated sued Smith in June, alleging he ankles and placed handcuffs Md. attorney general seeks that pay out in one lump sum — with the purchasing company. never met with her and didn’t around his wrists. dispense regular payments across The Post reviewed more than provide advice on the deal’s “fi- The incident sparked racial decades to protect vulnerable peo- 60 Access Funding petitions, cho- nancial, legal and tax implica- unrest on the campus in Char- lawyers’ settlement records ple from immediately spending sen at random, and Smith was the tions.” Smith argued she signed lottesville and led Virginia Gov. their entire compensation. As a independent professional adviser paperwork stating she under- Terry McAuliffe (D) to enact re- LEAD FROM B1 General Brian Frosh said. “But it’s protective measure, Maryland on every one. Authorities now say stood the deal. The suit is pending. forms to the ABC, including an just wrong.” passed a law in 2000 that said the Smith acted in this capacity in all Authorities are now focused on order for cultural and diversity “and perhaps substantially more Attorneys for Smith and Sud courts must approve the deals be- of Access Funding’s petitions in answering several questions: Did training for its law enforcement than half” — of the company’s didn’t return requests for com- fore they go through. Maryland between June 2013 and Access Funding pay Smith? What officers. deals involved Baltimore victims ment Wednesday. In Maryland, companies often June 2015. affiliations, if any,did he have with Johnson was a featured speak- of lead paint poisoning. In e-mails sent months ago, use two lawyers to complete this “Smith had an arrangement either Access Funding or Sud? er at a TEDx event in Charlottes- Sud and Smith have played a Smith said: “I have no business process. The first files the peti- with the Access Funding entities “The victim of lead paint poi- ville last week. His talk involved central role in facilitating these partnerships with any company in tions and represents the purchas- under which he exclusively pro- soning or some other tort is sup- reflections of his upbringing on deals since 2013. The men now con- the structured settlement pur- ing company at hearings in which vided advisory services to Mary- posed to have independent ad- Chicago’s South Side and what he tend in court papers that they don’t chasingindustry.. . .Inallinstanc- a judge determines whether the land tort victims who had been vice,” Frosh said. “But if it’s the sees as “systemic oppression” in have to share all of the requested es, I am directly contacted by the dealisinthesettlementrecipient’s induced to transfer structured set- same person giving the same ad- the country that can be traced to records with authorities because [settlement recipient.] . . . I’m not best interest. The second lawyer tlement payments to Access Fund- vice, and it’s always the same enti- “our society’s failure to sufficient- they say the Consumer Protection exactly sure how [they] come to offers what’s called “independent ing,”the petitions said. One recipi- ty on the other side of the transac- ly address these historical flaws,” Act excludes attorney services. me. . . . My independence is in no professional advice” to the cus- ent, who is functionally illiterate tion, it calls into question their he told The Washington Post. “That’s just wrong for a number way compromised or at risk.” tomer as to the deal’s implications. and sold payments that had a pre- independence.” [email protected] of reasons,” Maryland Attorney Structured settlements — as op- The statute specifies that this sent value of $337,855 for $62,636, [email protected]

THE DAILY QUIZ 2015 TREASURE HUNT According to Elizabeth Mayhew’s Want a breathtaking film to see? White Ford Bronco is coming to town. Not a PostPoints article on dining room design in Catch Nat Geo’s Jerusalem 3D. We’ll cut to the chase: they’re the best around. member yet? It’s FREE! today’s Local Living section, a Enjoy aerial footage of the Holy Land For ’90s rock, we hope that you’ll go Sign up to start reaping hanging light fixture should be how The Western Wall and a Dome that still stands. And party to sounds from years ago. immediate rewards. many inches from a tabletop? What Oscar-nominated actor narrates the National Geographic film, According to the 9:30 Club website, White Ford Bronco is influenced by Jerusalem 3D? what two ’90s TV shows? EARN 5 POINTS: Find the answer, and then go to (Hint: Visit NGMuseum.org for the answer.) (Hint: Visit 930.com for the answer.) washingtonpost.com/postpoints, Quizzes to enter the correct response. EARN 5 POINTS AND A CHANCE TO WIN GREAT PRIZES! Answer our Treasure Hunt questions, then go to washingtonpost.com/postpoints and click “Quizzes” to enter your responses. washingtonpost.com/postpoints ABCDE

METROTUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015

Court affirms payout changes

SETTLEMENT BUYOUTS AFFECTED with whatever the [company] was telling them, which was next to nothing. Often, Decision alters how firms the [settlement recipient] wasn’t there in purchase victims’ rights court, so I don’t know . . . whether the judges who were having these things before them by Terrence McCoy even knew what kinds of findings they had to make.” Maryland’s highest court has approved That disconnect, abetted by what Wil- sweeping changes that will drastically ner called procedural “gaps,” allowed firms change how companies purchase the rights to “take improper advantage of vulnerable to legal settlement payouts, effectively recipients of structured settlement pay- remaking how a controversial industry ments.” does business with some of the state’s poor- Wilner cited as the impetus behind est and most vulnerable residents. the changes a report published by The In particular, companies interested in Washington Post in August that exposed buying payments belonging to recipients of how structured settlement companies so-called structured settlements will now have made millions by targeting Baltimore need to file significantly more information victims of lead-paint poisoning. Some of so that judges can better decide whether a those victims, many of whom were African proposed deal is in a recipient’s best inter- American, poor and cognitively impaired, ests. The changes, approved Thursday, will sold rights to their lucrative structured- slow down the court-approval process and settlement payments for dimes on the dol- discourage what judicial officials called the lar. “rubber-stamping” of some petitions. Many personal injury lawyers, includ- “There were no guidelines before,” said ing Baltimore lawyers who represent vic- Judge Alan M. Wilner, who chairs an advi- tims of lead-paint poisoning, recommend sory committee that last month proposed these agreements. Rather than traditional the additional rules. “The judges were left settlements, they dispense payments in TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 2

regular intervals across decades, so vulner- fees to the advisor, which they recover as a able clients don’t immediately spend com- credit against what is paid for the transfer.” pensation meant to last a lifetime. To help judges ascertain the seller’s But these agreements unwittingly cognitive capacity, the changes require all gave rise to dozens of companies that seek recipients to appear in court at the hear- recepients willing to sell those payments ings. Their counselor must also submit bio- for a fraction of their face value. To pro- graphical information about them, specify- tect these people, Maryland, like dozens of ing whether the seller had sold payments other states, passed legislation that called in the past — and at what rate — as well on state courts to decide whether the deals as whether he or she was a victim of lead- were in recipients’ best interests. It also paint poisoning or alleged to be cognitively mandated that the seller receive indepen- impaired. dent profesional counsel. Patricia LaBorde, president of the Judicial officials are expressing sig- National Association of Settlement Pur- nificant concern over that advice, offered chasers, has in the past expressed concern by what Wilner derided as “supposed inde- that such changes would unduly burden pendent professional advisers.” One coun- people who needed to get money quickly. selor, The Post found, almost exclusively On Monday, she said the judiciary wasn’t advised one company’s customers. These the best avenue to change judicial proce- professionals must now attend hearings in dures earlier established by legislation. the cases, as well as divulge how often they “In general, the best solution is a leg- have worked on that firm’s petitions. islative one,” she said. “Changes need to be “Companies, or at least some of them, made in Maryland, and I think it’s most supply lists of individuals they have worked appropriate that it’s handled by the legis- with in the past from which the payee lature.” can choose,” Wilner wrote in a letter to State lawmakers have said they are the Court of Appeals, recommending the planning to file proposed legislation in changes. “At least some of the [purchas- January. ing] companies, we were told, ‘advance’ the [email protected] KLMNO

. METUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015TWASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONALRO EZ SU B

High at approx. MARYLAND JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON OBITUARIES 3 p.m. ° The state is joining a few Sasha Bruce Network Artist Adele Morales 52 others that are working went to a promising young Mailer found unwanted 8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m. Precip: 5% with businesses to train boxer’s aid when he was renown when stabbed by ° ° ° ° Wind: WNW 35 47 50 43 6-12 mph students for tech jobs. B2 down and out at 17. B3 her famous husband. B6

D.C. police A pre-Thanksgiving tradition continues Court chief: Fight a gunman affirms if you must payout BY PETER HERMANN changes D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. La- nier is urging that civilians con- fronted by an active shooter in some cases try to stop the gun- SETTLEMENT man before law enforcement au- BUYOUTS AFFECTED thorities arrive, saying quick ac- tion could save lives. The chief, appearing on the Decision alters how firms Sunday “60 Minutes” CBS news purchase victims’ rights show, noted that in many multi- ple shootings, most victims are killed within the first 10 minutes BY TERRENCE MCCOY — at the Navy Yard shootings in 2013, 10 of the 12 victims were Maryland’s highest court has dead in fewer than six minutes. approved sweeping changes that Lanier told correspondent An- will drastically change how com- derson Cooper that police simply panies purchase the rights to can’t get to the scene in time to legal settlement payouts, effec- stop the initial and deadliest tively remaking how a controver- onslaught. sial industry does business with “Your options are run, hide or some of the state’s poorest and fight,” Lanier said on the nation- most vulnerable residents. ally broadcast show. “I always say In particular, companies inter- if you can get out, getting out’s ested in buying payments be- your first option, your best op- longing to recipients of so-called tion. If you’re in a position to try structured settlements will now and take the gunman down, to PHOTOS BY KEITH LANE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST need to file significantly more take the gunman out, it’s the best information so that judges can option for saving lives before better decide whether a proposed police can get there.” TOP: Bags of frozen turkeys await deal is in a recipient’s best inter- While Lanier’s blunt words pickup by Ward 8 residents on ests. The changes, approved may strike some as revelatory, the Thursday, will slow down the advice was offered in 2013 in a Monday, the first anniversary of court-approval process and dis- video titled “Run, Hide, Fight” the death of D.C. Council member courage what judicial officials from the Houston mayor’s Office called the “rubber-stamping” of of Public Safety and funded by Marion Barry,who popularized some petitions. the U.S. Department of Home- the annual giveaway to the needy. “There were no guidelines be- land Security. It is posted on the fore,” said Judge Alan M. Wilner, FBI’s Internet site that also con- LEFT: LaRuby May, left, who who chairs an advisory commit- tains a detailed analysis of active succeeded Barry in the Ward 8 tee that last month proposed the shootings and how police con- additional rules. “The judges fronted the gunmen. seat, continued the giveaway in his were left with whatever the But coming from the police honor. Chatting with her and [company] was telling them, chief of the nation’s capital, which was next to nothing. Of- speaking on national television, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser is Ward 8 ten, the [settlement recipient] the words have gained a wider resident Phyllis Strand, center. wasn’t there in court, so I don’t audience. “For a major city police know . . . whether the judges who chief to say that is breaking new were having these things before ground,” said Chuck Wexler, who Suggestions to honor Barry them even knew what kinds of runs the Police Executive Re- A committee recommends four ways findings they had to make.” search Forum, a group that advis- that the District can pay tribute. B5 That disconnect, abetted by es police departments across the what Wilner called procedural B4 EZ SU KLMNO TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015 LANIER CONTINUED ON B4 COURT CONTINUED ON B4

MARYLAND Open-door In D.C., support for statehood climbs Attorney general’s office makes new push on street crime BY ABIGAIL HAUSLOHNER nation’s capital, up from 66 per- veys since the 1990s, but the policy for cent in 2011. Sixty-seven percent latest poll finds support one A record number of D.C. resi- of District residents said they point above the previous record BY JUSTIN FENTON firearms units and consists of five state’s attorney Gregg Bernstein. vert location and shouted at the dents want to see the District would support statehood for in 2002, the year after the city prosecutors with plans to expand. The chief of the organized crime detectives to go home. incendiary become a state, according to a D.C., a city of 650,000 people. government regained powers The Maryland attorney gener- “Our attorneys have made a unit is Katie Dorian, who worked “You ain’t locking up anybody new Washington Post poll. “I think if we were a state, we from a federal financial control al’s office has indicted 15 Balti- concerted effort to reach out and in the major investigations unit on Greenmount today!” he alleg- Nearly 3 in 4 residents say they would have more voice and more board. more men on drug conspiracy have dialogue with state’s attor- with Vignarajah, and other for- edly yelled, before throwing hate speech are upset that the District has no authority in certain issues,” said But support for statehood is charges, signaling a new push ney’s offices across the state, po- mer city prosecutors left for the bricks and chunks of concrete voting representation in Con- Silvia Murillo, a longtime resi- still largely a white-collar priori- into prosecuting street crime by a lice departments across the state, attorney general’s office as well. through the window where the Looks like fear — gress, and about half describe dent of Adams Morgan. Murillo, ty. And only 2 percent of poll state agency long known for and say, we’re an extra set of The Black Guerrilla Family in- detectives were located. not turkey — is themselves as “very upset” over who works as a dog walker, said respondents rank self-governor- white-collar and environmental resources that you can call on dictment was announced by “When confronted about his the main course the absence. she is frustrated by the city’s ship for the District as the city’s cases. when you need us, and we’d like Bernstein’s office in 2013 with actions, Purcell stated that the being served in Federal intervention in Dis- skyrocketing real estate prices top problem. Officials said the indictments to help you take on these kinds of great fanfare, with 48 defendants officers were disrupting their op- our country this trict affairs also proved to be an and growing crime problem. If Supporters of the measure are capped a months-long investiga- cases and bring these folks to charged. But as the cases came to erations and that the police were ODED BALILTY/ASSOCIATED PRESS tion between the Baltimore po- justice,” said David Nitkin, a court this year, many were ‘the enemy,’ ” prosecutors wrote Petula week. issue for many residents. D.C. D.C. had representation, she more likely to be wealthy, highly Political laws and budgets are subject to said, it might be better able to educated and white, according to Friends of slain Massachusetts teenager Ezra Schwartz gathered at lice and the attorney general’s spokesman for the office. dropped or resulted in plea bar- in the indictment. Purcell is Dvorak opportunists congressional approval, a proc- take on those challenges. the Post poll. the airport in Tel Aviv before his body was returned home. new Organized Crime Unit into Baltimore County state’s attor- gains that brought little prison charged with assaulting two po- running for ess that has thwarted local legis- The Post poll finds that Nearly 8 in 10 residents who drug dealing around the 2400 ney Scott Shellenberger, presi- time. lice officers in connection with president have been cooking up lation on issues such as repro- 67 percent of residents favor the make more than $100,000 a year block of Greenmount Avenue in dent of the Maryland State’s At- Two defendants from the case the incident, along with three a heaping platter of anti-Muslim ductive rights and the use of District becoming a state, includ- say they would support state- East Baltimore. Maryland State torney’s Association, which had are now charged in the new drug-related counts connected to sentiment since the Nov. 13 marijuana. ing 71 percent of registered vot- hood for the District. The same Orthodox Jews vow to Police also provided assistance. concerns about Gansler’s move indictment by the attorney gener- the sale of drugs to an undercover terrorist attacks in Paris. They’ve More than 7 in 10 residents say ers, an increase of 10 percentage was true for residents who hold a That area was previously the into gang cases, said officials al’s office. Keith Anderson, 36, officer earlier in the investiga- geared us up for an epic Congress has too much control points from 2010. Majorities postgraduate degree. target of a massive 2013 indict- welcome the collaboration. whose charges of murder con- tion. continue gap-year path ment brought by the Baltimore “These crimes can cross juris- spiracy and gang charges in the Aidan Smith, Anderson’s attor- Hategiving with their ugly over the internal affairs of the have supported statehood in sur- STATEHOOD CONTINUED ON B6 proposals to shut down state’s attorney’s office against JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST dictional lines, and it certainly 2013 case are one of the few cases ney in the BGF case, declined to mosques, register American BY MICHELLE BOORSTEIN Jews from across the denomi- alleged members and associates Attorney General Brian Frosh, seen in January, said drug dealing makes sense to have a statewide still pending, and Anthony Hunt- comment. Hunter’s attorney in Muslims and reject Syrian national spectrum over the week- of the Black Guerrilla Family. At has contributed to “intolerable levels of violence in Baltimore.” effort if there ever needs to be any er, 30, who pleaded guilty to a the case did not respond to a refugees who aren’t Christians. For almost every American Or- end mourned Schwartz, a camp least two of the defendants in this crossover,” Shellenberger said. gang charge in June and received request for comment, and Purcell If you don’t think Muslims are thodox Jew, the killing of 18-year- counselor with four siblings — week’s indictment were charged lesser extent, federal prosecutors though in a limited number of “We view it as a very unifying a seven-year suspended sentence, did not have an attorney listed in under attack, take a look at what Crash victim’s family seeks answers old Ezra Schwartz feels one de- one older, three younger— who in that prior case. — usually handle such criminal cases. development.” are among seven people who have court records. went down in the town of gree of separation away. had planned to attend Rutgers “Criminal organizations profit- cases. Prior to 2007, the attorney “We did help jurisdictions, but Baltimore City state’s attorney been taken into custody. Both are Gansler said there are a “scar- Fredericksburg, Va., last week. BY MORIAH BALINGIT having a driver’s license — and pulling over and then drove back Schwartz was fatally shot University next fall. Religious ing from drug addiction are con- general’s criminal investigations they would call us in and ask us to Marilyn Mosby’s office said it has charged with cocaine distribu- city of resources” in the state, and The Islamic Center of AND DANA HEDGPETH why he decided to speed away onto the road, Troxell said. The Thursday by a Palestinian motor- schools paused for tearful assem- tributing to intolerable levels of unit handled charges related to do that,” he said Monday. “We “been in regular contact with the tion. the attorney general’s office could Fredericksburg — a little brick when he saw the flash of a police car then sped away. ist who opened fire on a line of blies and prayer, rabbis sent out violence in Baltimore,” Attorney misconduct in office, bribery, per- were very concerned with going attorney general’s office but are According to the indictment, be called on more and more to building that looks like a bank When Shannon Pitre-Lopez cruiser’s lights. The deputy followed but cars in traffic in Gush Etzion, statements of solidarity and General Brian Frosh said in a jury, falsification of public rec- in and bigfooting any local juris- unable to comment on pending Anderson and Hunter were help if they are successful. That, branch office and has been turned in Saturday night, her “We weren’t in the car caught up only after the south of Jerusalem, in the West many parents wondered “what- statement Monday. “I commend ords and criminal violations of dictions.” cases.” caught selling drugs to undercov- in turn, could create its own around for 27 years — was 15-year-old son Wilberto Pitre III with him. We don’t Honda had crashed into Bank, the Associated Press re- if.” Some residents of Sharon, the detectives from the Baltimore Maryland tax law. With the creation of the orga- Frosh’s staff includes several er officers in September. resource issues. skewered at a community was home with her, on the phone know what was said be- a parked car with such ported. Two other people were Mass., his home town, are display- Police Department and prosecu- Then-Attorney General Doug- nized crime unit, the attorney former top city prosecutors. Dep- During their investigation, an- Still, he said, “it’s a very posi- meeting by a handful of seething with friends. tween him and his force that it was pushed killed in the incident, the latest in ing blue and white ribbons — the tors from the Organized Crime las F. Gansler created a criminal general’s office is making a new uty Attorney General Thiru Vig- other man charged in the case, tive development when local en- people who see the center’s She awoke at 4 a.m. Sunday, friend,” said his father, into two others. The a wave of deadly violence in the colors of the Israeli flag — on their Unit for their collaboration and division and took on gang pros- push to investigate and bring narajah previously led the Major Sean Purcell, allegedly discov- forcement works cooperatively expansion plans as a threat to when police knocked on her door Wilberto Pitre Jr. “What parked cars were not oc- region that began weeks ago. mailboxes and on buildings in the hard work on this case.” ecutions in conjunction with au- charges in street crime cases. It Investigations Unit for the state’s ered detectives conducting un- with state law enforcement.” the very fabric of America. in rural Aldie, Va., with tragic happened after that that cupied. But the Massachusetts teen- town center to honor his memory. Local prosecutors — and to a thorities across the state, al- combines the existing gang and attorney’s office under former dercover surveillance from a co- — Baltimore Sun “Nobody, nobody, nobody news: Wilberto had sneaked out made him think that he Wilberto’s passenger, ager was killed in the midst of a At his funeral Sunday in Sha- wants your evil cult in this of the house, taken her car, could try and run?” a 15-year-old girl from ritual that has become enormous- ron, Schwartz was eulogized as a county,” a man said in a video of picked up a friend and crashed Kraig Troxell, a Wilberto Pitre the Sterling area, was ly common in recent years for huge sports fan, in particular of the Tuesday meeting posted while fleeing from a traffic stop. spokesman for the Lou- flown to Inova Fairfax young Orthodox Jews — a gap the New England Patriots. The online by the Fredericksburg He died at the scene, on a resi- doun County sheriff’s office, said Hospital with serious injuries. year before college of intense reli- team announced that a moment Free Lance-Star. “I will do dential street in Sterling. Monday that a deputy saw Wil- Police hoped to interview her gious study in Israel. Meant often of silence would be held in his Court ruling will change Lanier says fast action against shooter can save lives everything in my power to make Now Wilberto’s parents are berto driving with the headlights Monday. as a way of solidifying one’s Jew- memory at its Monday night foot- sure that doesn’t happen, agonizing over what their teen- off on East Beech Road in Ster- Troxell said that Wilberto had ish identity, maturity and knowl- ball game against the Buffalo LANIER FROM B1 prevent a gunman from entering. lar ideas was adopted by federal because you are terrorists.” age son was thinking when he ling. The deputy tried to stop the neither a provisional license nor edge before heading to college, Bills. A Patriots jersey, alongside procedure for payouts The men were labeled heroes. law enforcement after the mass He wasn’t the only one decided to get behind the wheel car, a two-door Honda sedan. a learner’s permit. He lived with the gap year is of great impor- an Israel flag, was placed beside country. Police tactics are continuing to shooting at an elementary school DVORAK CONTINUED ON B5 of his mother’s car — despite not Twice, Wilberto appeared to be CRASH CONTINUED ON B8 tance to Orthodox Jews. GAP YEAR CONTINUED ON B6 COURT FROM B1 company’s customers. These pro- Wexler said that historically, evolve to respond to the newest in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. fessionals must now attend hear- police have urged citizens not to threats and have again become “If you are in close proximity to “gaps,” allowed firms to “take ings in the cases, as well as get involved, but instead to call an issue after this month’s deadly the shooter and the choice is improper advantage of vulner- divulge how often they have 911 and wait for officers to re- attacks in Paris. In New York, between being shot and fight, you able recipients of structured set- worked on that firm’s petitions. spond. That remains true in most authorities are training 35,000 fight,” Blair said. He said studies tlement payments.” “Companies, or at least some crimes, he said. “But if you’re officers to confront active shoot- show that in most active shooter Wilner cited as the impetus of them, supply lists of individu- dealing with suicide bombers or ers and suicide bombers, and last scenarios, gunmen “sponta- behind the changes a report als they have worked with in the terrorists, it’s a completely differ- week, the department deployed neously stop,” typically by com- published by The Washington past from which the payee can ent dynamic,” Wexler said. “I roving groups of tactical officers mitting suicide, “because there Post in August that exposed how choose,” Wilner wrote in a letter think that because so much can in Manhattan so they could are no more available targets.” structured settlement companies to the Court of Appeals, recom- happen in so few seconds, inter- quickly respond to any call for Blair said that in one in five active have made millions by targeting mending the changes. “At least vention by citizens can make a help from a terrorist threat. shooting cases, “potential victims Baltimore victims of lead-paint some of the [purchasing] compa- big difference.” The “Run, Hide, Fight” video stop the attackers themselves” poisoning. Some of those victims, nies, we were told, ‘advance’ the The “60 Minutes” show fo- recommends confrontation “as a and that “usually they are un- many of whom were African fees to the advisor, which they cused mostly on how law enforce- JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST last resort, if your life is at risk.” armed.” American, poor and cognitively recover as a credit against what is ment in the United States has But once committed to fight, the Blair said that the videos and impaired, sold rights to their paid for the transfer.” changed strategies since the mas- video urges people to “act with the advice are designed to get lucrative structured-settlement To help judges ascertain the sacre at Columbine High School “Getting out’s . . . your aggression. Improvise weapons. people thinking of what they payments for dimes on the dollar. seller’s cognitive capacity, the in Colorado in 1999, when police Disarm him.” would do in the rare event they Many personal injury lawyers, changes require all recipients to waited for tactical squads to form best option. If you’re in Actors in the video are in a find themselves under attack, including Baltimore lawyers who appear in court at the hearings. before storming the building. By crowded break room as a gun- much like families practice fire represent victims of lead-paint Their counselor must also sub- then, 13 people had been killed. a position to try and man armed with assault rifles drills and cities go through disas- poisoning, recommend these mit biographical information Now, police confront gunmen tries to break in. The narrator ter preparedness training. “It’s agreements. Rather than tradi- about them, specifying whether as quickly as they can. At the take the gunman down, says: “Commit to taking the accepting the reality of the situa- tional settlements, they dispense the seller had sold payments in Navy Yard, officers armed with shooter down, no matter what.” tion we live in currently,” he said. payments in regular intervals the past — and at what rate — as handguns went inside before to take the gunman out, As the gunman enters, the video “If you spend a few moments across decades, so vulnerable well as whether he or she was a more heavily armed and better shows employees attacking him thinking about how you would clients don’t immediately spend victim of lead-paint poisoning or trained police arrived. But it took it’s the best option for — two with coffee mugs, others react, you will perform better and compensation meant to last a alleged to be cognitively im- those first officers five minutes to with a chair and a fire extinguish- increase the chances that you can lifetime. paired. arrive, and by then, Aaron Alexis saving lives before er. survive.” But these agreements unwit- Patricia LaBorde, president of had shot most of his victims. J. Pete Blair, director of re- On “60 Minutes,” Lanier said tingly gave rise to dozens of the National Association of Set- A D.C. police spokesman said police can get there.” search for the Advanced Law police and civilians can rarely companies that seek recepients tlement Purchasers, has in the Lanier was unavailable Monday Enforcement Rapid Response prevent fatalities in such cases, willing to sell those payments for past expressed concern that such to expand on or explain her D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier Training, based at Texas State but they can minimize casualties. a fraction of their face value. To changes would unduly burden comments on Sunday’s show. University, said his group also The chief acknowledged that ad- protect these people, Maryland, people who needed to get money There are examples of people advises confrontation as a last vising confrontation is “kind of like dozens of other states, quickly. On Monday, she said the intervening in active shooting to Paris. One had his thumb resort. His team adopted a vari- counterintuitive to what cops al- passed legislation that called on judiciary wasn’t the best avenue situations. In August, three U.S. nearly severed in the attack. In ant of the “run, hide, fight” catch- ways tell people.” state courts to decide whether to change judicial procedures friends tackled and disarmed a October, a former Army infantry- phrase — “avoid, deny and de- Cooper said, “You’re telling the deals were in recipients’ best earlier established by legislation. suspected Islamist militant with man was shot three times trying fend.” First avoid the gunman, them that now though?” interests. It also mandated that “In general, the best solution is two guns, a knife and nine ammu- to block a classroom door at a then deny access and finally fight. Lanier answered: “We are.” the seller receive independent a legislative one,” she said. nition clips aboard a train headed community college in Oregon to He said the advice for both simi- [email protected] profesional counsel. “Changes need to be made in Judicial officials are express- Maryland, and I think it’s most ing significant concern over that appropriate that it’s handled by advice, offered by what Wilner the legislature.” derided as “supposed independ- State lawmakers have said Fresh perspectives on the world around you. ent professional advisers.” One they are planning to file pro- counselor, The Post found, al- posed legislation in January. most exclusively advised one [email protected]

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 Perils of early payoffs inVirginia

Firms make millions off the injured in purchases of structured settlements

by Terrence McCoy to court and evicted him. He stepped into the darkened home as Taylor, an amputee, Rex Muller has had lots of tenants descended the stairs and, without a word, over the years, but none quite like Ter- limped past him on a prosthetic leg. rence Taylor. He moved into a house miles Taylor had left behind a mess of toys, outside of town but couldn’t drive. He was dirty dishes and cards written by “go-go 30 years old but played with toy cars. His girls,” Muller recalled. Strange documents face was badly disfigured by burns, but were strewn across the kitchen table. “It attractive women often accompanied him. was a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo,” Muller Muller nonetheless trusted Taylor more said. “A lot of lawyer talk.” than most. He had lots of money. The landlord, however, understood When Taylor moved from Fairfax enough to know the tenant had been doing County to Muller’s Martinsburg, W.Va., a lot of business deals. “He was selling off townhouse in 2012, agreeing to pay $870 his loan,” Muller reasoned. in monthly rent, he flashed an insurance Not quite. What Taylor had been sell- document bearing impressive numbers. It ing, chunk by chunk, for pennies on the said New York Life Insurance was paying dollar, was a settlement that had a lifetime him $10,000 every month as a result of a expected payout of $31.5 million. In numer- lawsuit settled in 1989. Muller learned that ous deals approved in Virginia courts over a malfunctioning electric heater had burst into flames when Taylor was a boy, leaving him disfigured — and rich. His settlement $11 million The aggregate value of structured- would pay him many millions of dollars settlement payments that Terrence over the course of his life. Taylor of Manassas, Va., sold. Two years later, in June 2014, Muller watched as a local deputy knocked at Tay- $1.4 million The amount that Taylor received lor’s door. Muller had just taken his tenant, from companies that purchase who had not paid rent in three months, structured-settlement payments. MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 2

PHOTOS BY RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST

Through a settlement, Terrence Taylor, 33, above, was to receive an expected $31.5 Chesapeake Bay, inside the Portsmouth million over his lifetime, but he Circuit Courthouse. For more than a sold his payments through 2044 for pennies on the dollar. decade, this Virginia institution has oper- Louise Taylor, left, shows photos of Terrence after he was ated much like an assembly line for the burned in 1988. A structured secretive industry of structured-settlement settlement with the space- twoheater years, manufacturer Taylor wassold everything owed to purchasing. Over the past 15 years, one himreached, through and when 2044 Terrence and was now broke and lawyer has filed thousands of cases — far was in his late 20s, his monthly homeless.payments were $10,000. more than anywhere else in the state — at How did this happen, Muller said he the courthouse, where almost all of them wondered as he picked through the detri- have been approved. tus. When four companies struck 10 deals with Terrence Taylor in two years, The hub of sales approvals they hired Portsmouth lawyer Stephen E. The answer to that question lay 250 Heretick. Nine of those deals were then miles south, along the southern maw of the assigned to now-retired Portsmouth judge MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 3

Through a settlement, Terrence Taylor, 33, above, was to receive an expected $31.5 million over his lifetime, but he sold his payments through 2044 for pennies on the dollar. Louise Taylor, left, shows photos of Terrence after he was burned in 1988. A structured has sued the companies, focusing on a settlement with the space- heater manufacturer was South Florida firm named Structured Asset reached, and when Terrence Funding, which did six deals with him. was in his late 20s, his monthly payments were $10,000. That Taylor, who had received diag- noses of learning and emotional disabili- ties, could so quickly hemorrhage 30 years’ Dean W. Sword, the authority tasked with worth of income in deals approved in a deciding such cases. And Sword approved courthouse he never visited is the result of every one, putting five of the deals under Virginia’s failure to properly regulate and seal. monitor an industry that makes tens of In all, according to Taylor’s bank millions off some of the state’s most vulner- records and court documents, the burn able residents, a Washington Post investi- survivor sold $11 million of his structured gation has found. settlement — which had a present value of Unlike traditional settlements, which about $8.5 million — for roughly $1.4 mil- are paid out in one sum, structured settle- lion, or 16 cents on the present dollar. He ments dispense the payout in portions over MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 4

a lifetime to protect vulnerable people from that have seen complaints of abuse. immediately spending it all. Since 1975, After a Post report this summer insurance firms have committed an esti- that found judges in Maryland routinely mated $350 billion to these agreements, approved deals in which firms bought pay- spawning a secondary market in which ments belonging to victims of lead poi- companies compete to buy payments for a soning for dimes on the dollar, that state’s smaller amount of upfront cash. highest court reformed judicial procedures Such deals, industry advocates say, to require that businesses that buy settle- get desperate people the money they need ments file their cases where sellers live and for emergencies and big expenses, such as disclose how often sellers had sold in the home purchases. But they also expose sell- past. ers to the risk that they will exchange life- To ensure that companies do not file times’ worth of income for pittances. exclusively to amenable judges, deals in Virginia is among 49 states that have New York and Oregon must be submitted passed legislation to protect sellers of where the seller lives. In Illinois, sellers structured settlements by requiring county must attend court hearings so that judges courts to discern whether a deal is in the can assess whether they understand the seller’s best interest. But some laws contain deals’ terms. To prevent predatory deals, loopholes, and the strongest protections North Carolina’s 1999 law capped how have generally been implemented in states much companies can profit per deal. And in California, sellers’ attorneys Terrence Taylor’s structured settlement must be notified if they try to sell

1990 1990 their payout within five years of Terrence Taylor began receiving payments from a getting it. Experts familiar with structured settlement that had a lifetime expected 2000 payout of $31.5 million. scrupulous jurisdictions esti- mate that courts there approve 2010 Between 2012 and 2014 deals at a rate of about 75 per- Through a number of deals, Taylor sells everything 2020 owed to him through 2044 for pennies on the cent. dollar. In all, he received $1.4 million — or about In the District, there is no 2030 16 cents on the present dollar — in exchange for payments with an aggregate value of $11 million law addressing the sale of struc- and a present value of $8.5 million.* tured settlements, so judges 2040 2044 follow laws established in the 2050 Taylor, who would be in his 60s, will once again insurance company’s home state begin receiving payments. — and sometimes go beyond *Present value is the amount the structured-settlement payments are worth at them. Most judges “make an the time of sale. Aggregate value is the amount sellers would have received, including interest, had they waited to collect everything. inquiry to ensure that the per- Source: Staff reports TERRENCE MCCOY/THE WASHINGTON POST son understands, and they’re not MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 5

getting abused, ” said Thomas Papson, a almost exclusively assigned to Sword, who D.C. Legal Aid Society lawyer whom judges once noted in a ruling how little attention appoint to represent sellers at hearings. the Virginia Supreme Court has paid to But industry experts say weaknesses structured-settlement cases. “Essentially,” in Virginia’s law have made the state par- he said, “the circuit courts have been and ticularly appealing to purchasing compa- remain on their own to resolve these mat- nies looking for quick and easy profits that ters.” could shortchange sellers. Structured-set- The Post examined every case Heretick tlement recipients in Virginia who want filed in 2013 that was assigned to Sword, to sell their payments are not obligated to when he approved seven of Taylor’s deals. attend hearings. They’re allowed to waive That year, Heretick petitioned Sword at their right to independent counsel and least 594 times and frequently filed deals almost always do. Companies can file their in bulk. Weeks later, the judge would rule deals anywhere in the state. on dozens — and once, 52 — in an hour- The de facto clearinghouse for these long hearing. Overall, Sword approved transactions has become Portsmouth Cir- 95 percent of the deals. cuit Court, where most deals are approved Sword didn’t respond to multiple and few sellers attend hearings, according requests for comment, including one let- to an examination of thousands of pub- ter that asked whether he reviewed the lic records and interviews with industry deals before the hearings, as well as other insiders. detailed questions. Over the past 15 years, Heretick has A survey of the 300 or so cases submitted the overwhelming majority of Heretick filed this year shows that Judge the state’s cases in Portsmouth, where he William S. Moore Jr., who now acts as the has a near monopoly on the legal work. primary Portsmouth judge handling the Heretick, who was a Portsmouth City settlement sales, approved deals at a rate of Council member between 2004 and 2012, nearly 85 percent. Moore did not respond won a seat in the House of Delegates in to three requests for comment. November. Since 2000, he has also worked “The feeling within the industry as an attorney for more than a dozen pur- in Virginia is that that particular court chasing firms and filed about 6,100 cases would pretty much rubber-stamp anything in Portsmouth. The Post found fewer than without much investigation,” said Bobby 350 cases that Heretick and other lawyers Waters, a Roanoke consultant who has filed in other Virginia jurisdictions during spent decades working with injured people those years. on structured settlements. Until 2014, when the judge retired His comments were echoed by eight from the bench, Heretick’s petitions were experts familiar with the deals in Ports- MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 6

mouth. “It’s hard for me to see Following the money from injury victim to investor that a judge could . . . under- Structured settlements belonging to an injured person are paid out over stand what are in the [sellers’] time. If a settlement recipient sells their payments to a purchasing company in exchange for upfront cash, those payments can then be transferred to an best interests and turn through investor. Here's how money awarded to an injured person can end up with an them this quickly,” said Bren- investor. nan Neville, an attorney with Settlement recipient Insurance company Berkshire Hathaway Life Insur- The recipient of a lawsuit $ ance Co. 1 settlement agrees to a $ structured settlement, in The Post reviewed 160 $ which money dispenses $ deals, randomly selected, of in smaller payments $ across decades. Structured- the 566 that Sword approved settlement payments in 2013. The filings gener- Finance company ally include affidavits signed A finance company can by sellers explaining why they $$$$ 2 purchase a recipient's wanted the money. They spell rights to these payments for a lump-sum amount. out how much sellers would A county judge must Settlement have received, including inter- approve the deal. payments est, had they waited to collect everything — called aggregate value. They show how much When the deal is Investor the payments were worth at the 3 approved, the payments Settlement may be simultaneously payments time of sale — called present sold to an outside value. And they also show how investor, with the purchasing company much the company agreed to taking a cut. $$$$ pay the seller upfront. But the public record in Portsmouth is remarkably The investor can keep the Consumer Investor skeletal. Ninety-one of the 160 4 payments or resell them cases The Post reviewed were to an individual consumer $$$$ or another investor. Some sealed— a rate that five experts, companies bundle in interviews, called highly hundreds of payments and sell them as a highly Settlement unusual. Portsmouth Chief payments rated bond. Judge Johnny E. Morrison declined to comment on why

Source: Staff research CRISTINA RIVERO AND TERRENCE MCCOY/THE WASHINGTON POST these deals were sealed. In the remaining 69 deals, the court filings show, com- MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 7

Terrence Taylor, Taylor, 33, and 33, his daughter,and his Braelyn,daughter, 8, watch Braelyn, TV at his Manassas,8, watch Va., TV home at his with Manassas, his mother, Louise Va., Taylor. home After with selling his millions mother, in future Louisesettlement Taylor.payments andAfter spending selling the moneymillions he received, in future Terrence settlement Taylor is again payments living with hisand parents. spending the money he received, Terrence Taylor is again living with his parents. panies purchased payments that had an questionable, experts say. For example, aggregate value of $10 million — and a Heretick filed one deal in which a Virginia present value of $7.5 million — for $2.2 man sold payments that had an aggregate million, or about 29 cents on the present value of $164,760 — and a present value dollar. of $106,936 — for $3,000. And another Andrew Larsen, one of the nation’s deal the attorney filed sold payments that foremost experts on structured settle- had an aggregate value of $250,000 — and ments, called those profit margins “egre- a present value of $168,531 — for $3,658. gious.” “If you look at what is considered a Both of these deals paid people less than 3 fair profit margin in other industries, I don’t cents on the dollar. think anyone is making these terms,” said In an interview, Heretick said the dis- Larsen, former president of the National crepancy between purchase price and pres- Structured Settlements Trade Association. ent value comes down to risk. For instance, Some of the deals were even more life-contingent payments, which stop if a MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 8

recipient dies, aren’t guaranteed to pur- people don’t know what they’re getting chasers. Payments scheduled decades in into. the future, he said, have less value because “I don’t take cases” he said, “that I have of uncertain economic forecasts. doubts about.” Sellers who strike these deals, he said, But Heretick later clarified that state- do so out of necessity, securing money ment. Had he known what he knows now, through the transactions that they could he said, there is a case he might have not get otherwise. “If they didn’t have that declined to take: “The Terrence Taylor ability, there could be lots of people out case.” there who could be getting hundreds of thousands of dollars . . . years from now Fast, easy money who might be homeless today.” On a Wednesday evening in April of Heretick ascribes his high approval 1988, Taylor wandered into the master rate — “easily” over 90 percent, he said bedroom at his parents’ Herndon home to — to his years of experience filing these watch “Wheel of Fortune” and closed the deals and his understanding of what will door. Warmed by a space heater at his side, and will not be approved in Portsmouth. the 6-year-old fell asleep. Soon after, black When he first started in the industry, he smoke wafted from underneath the door. said, he drove three hours to Lynchburg, Taylor’s father kicked it open and found his but judges declined to hear multiple cases son collapsed on the floor. A helicopter was in one session. dispatched to transport Taylor to the Dis- So, he said, he met with then-Ports- trict, where doctors at Children’s National mouth Chief Judge Judge James A. Cales Medical Center worried that they could not Jr., who gave him two hour-long slots per save him. month to file as many as he wanted and Numerous surgeries and several assigned Sword to the task. Now retired, amputations later, Terrence Taylor looked Cales said he does not recall the meeting at himself in the mirror. “The 6-year-old with Heretick or making that decision. who stares back . . . is missing a face, a right “We don’t peddle these to the easiest leg, the fingers on his right hand, confi- court we can find,” Heretick said. Ports- dence and the innocence of youth,” reads a mouth “happens to be where my office is Post article published in January of 1989. located. . . . I’m certainly not going to drive Months later, Taylor visited a voca- six hours for a case in Patrick County.” tional rehabilitation counselor, who Instead, sellers need to drive hours to described the boy as having a cognitive Portsmouth — but few do. Heretick esti- “deficiency,” which likely predated the mated that about 1 in 20 appears in court. burns but could “accelerate” in their after- He said he’s never had concerns that math. Taylor was also diagnosed with post- MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 9

traumatic stress disorder and dysthymic getting her pregnant and moving in with disorder, which related to “feelings of inad- her, before the relationship dissolved. To equacy, loss of self-esteem [and] decreased distance himself from her, he planned a attention and concentration.” move to Martinsburg, W.Va., in the spring That year, in 1989, Taylor settled a of 2012, where he would be closer to a lawsuit against the space-heater manufac- cousin — and, for the first time, live by turer and entered into a structured settle- himself. ment with a lifetime expected payout of One day around this time, Taylor said $31.5 million. “Because of the severe physi- he was leafing through the mail when he cal and psychological injuries to Terrence, came across an advertisement. It was from all parties . . . were concerned about Ter- a South Florida company named Struc- rence’s ability to care for himself,” Taylor’s tured Asset Funding, he said, and it prom- attorney, Robert Muse, wrotein an affidavit ised fast, easy money. in August of this year. All he had to do was call. The concerns about Taylor would prove true. He squeaked through high school People ‘in bad situations’ with the help of special-education classes That phone call ushered Taylor into and weekly psychotherapy. He later earned a world where companies compete fero- an associate’s degree at a non-accredited, ciously to find and poach customers from for-profit school that is now defunct but competitors. They comb through court never landed a job beyond a few months documents, pay people hundreds of dollars of unskilled work at retail stores. He failed for referrals and even solicit sellers long the driver’s license test four times. “The after they’ve sold everything. driving test is hard,” said Taylor, 33, who One company that scours records for speaks haltingly and without intonation. people like Taylor is Seneca One. Based in “Getting your license is hard — the test isn’t Bethesda, it files the majority of its Virginia easy. The computerized test on the screen.” cases in Portsmouth and has been a client His payments protected him finan- of Stephen Heretick since at least 2006. cially. By the time he was in his late 20s, Curtis Montgomery, who worked his structured settlement was paying for a few months this year as an account him nearly $10,000 monthly in untaxed manager at Seneca One, said the firm income. But that money didn’t help him maintains a database with “thousands with women. “I can go to the mall and try of [potential sellers] from all over the to start a conversation, and it’s like, ‘I have country, their names, their phone num- a boyfriend,’ ” he said. “I’ve heard every bers, their addresses, information we’ve excuse there is.” received from court documents and notes Taylor did, however, date one woman, — detailed notes.” MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 10

A former senior official with Seneca said. One, who spoke on the condition of ano- Montgomery’s assertions were echoed nymity, claiming he feared for his physical by the former Seneca One senior official safety, said the database is used to “prey and a current account executive, who spoke on who’s likely to sell their payments the on the condition of anonymity out of fear most.” Most people, once they start doing of losing his job. The three said the most deals, he said, will sell everything within important part of the process is securing two years — a period referred to as the court approval. “perishable period.” “Lawyers in each company have [a New associates, Montgomery said, go list of] reasonable explanations that com- “fishing” by cold-calling people in the data- panies will look at,” said the former senior base. “They look for the clients that are in official, such as buying a house or paying bad situations,” he said, adding that he has off debt. “Then the in-house counsel writes seen sales agents pay people $50 to stay on the [seller’s] affidavit knowing what . . . the the line for five minutes. judge who is likely assigned will like.” “Any way to get in and get them to talk,” He said Virginia is one of the most he said. An associate might tell a potential popular states in which to file these peti- client “ ‘You’re owed money. . . . They might tions because it is a “rubber-stamp state not pay you the rest of your money if you where the [seller] doesn’t need to appear.” don’t do this,’ ” Montgomery said. The goal, And at the Portsmouth courthouse, he said, is to ultimately build up a “pipe- their names may not appear on the court line” of “remarkets” — people who do con- docket, as well. Many firms, which file using tinuous deals. subsidiaries or shell companies, sometimes Monty Hagler, a spokesman for Sen- only refer to sellers by their initials, which eca One, did not dispute Montgomery’s Portsmouth Clerk of Circuit Court Cynthia recollection but questioned his credibility P. Morrison said “should not be.” in discussing the company’s work. During Heretick, she said, was “one of the his tenure, Montgomery never completed first” attorneys in the area to start using a deal and was terminated because of poor the court’s e-filing system. Sometimes, she performance, Hagler said, adding that the said, “The only thing coming when he files firing was “ugly. . . . He said, ‘I’m going to is the last name and the first initial, and we expose you.’ ” are in error. . . . We should never accept a Industry depictions do not reflect the case with a last name and a first initial.” practices of Structured Asset Funding, said Heretick said in an interview that president Andrew Savysky. “We care about he files with initials because that is what our customers and hope they use the pro- judges have requested. He said Sword ceeds we give them to better their lives,” he decided to seal the cases to protect sellers’ MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 11

personal financial information, calling the “LIFE IS GREAT,” he posted on practice “commendable.” Facebook days after Sword approved People familiar with the industry the deal. “CANT STOP SMILING AND offered a different interpretation. “The WONT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” main reason they do it is to wall off [sell- It would be the best deal Taylor would ers] from competitors,” said John Darer, strike. Over the next two years, Taylor would who runs a blog that monitors the industry. do 10 more approved deals with Structured And in the beginning, when he still Asset Funding and other companies. One had tens of millions available for purchase, deal, court records show, traded payments there were probably few sellers in Virginia that had an aggregate value of $5.3 mil- more sought-after than Terrence Taylor. lion — and a present value of $4 million — for $389,000, or less than 10 cents on ‘LIFE IS GREAT’ the present dollar. Another deal, according Taylor never dreamed it could be so to filings, exchanged payments that had easy. He had to sign only a few papers. an aggregate value of $1.6 million — and a Then whenever he was running short on present value of $844,000 — for $40,000, money, according to a lawsuit later file in or less than 5 cents on the present dollar. federal court, he called Rhett Wadsworth, In interviews and court documents, a salesman for Structured Asset Funding, Taylor said the purchasing companies and Wadsworth would get him whatever “coached” him in coming up with “false” he needed. reasons to explain why he needed the The first infusion of cash reached his money. In one affidavit that Taylor signed, account on April 27, 2012 in the amount it said he needed money to pay down credit- of $5,000, his bank records show. Another card debt. Another said he wanted money one, for $7,000, arrived on May 2. “In cases to start a nonprofit organization. All of where the individual directly requests an these explanations, he now says, were not advance, we are within our legal means to true. They “were Rhett Wadsworth ideas. provide it,” said Savysky, the company pres- Rhett said it had to look good on paper for ident. the judge to approve it.” Two $3,000 advances then material- Savysky contested that assertion. “The ized in Taylor’s account, the second land- only reason why Terrence Taylor continues ing days before Sword approved Taylor’s to say this is because he stands to gain by first deal in Portsmouth. The burn survivor making these and other unfounded allega- sold payments that had an aggregate value tions,” he said. of $814,999 — and a present value of about Judge Sword sealed five of Taylor’s $724,000 — for about $300,000, his bank first six deals, all of which were with Struc- records show. tured Asset Funding. The Post determined MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 12

the aggregate value of what Taylor received talk to Terrence.’ They would call and say, versus the value of what he sold in those ‘Are you coming tonight? Come see me.’ sealed transactions by examining his bank And it fed his ego,” Stovall recalled. He said records and asking an outside actuary to strip clubs dispatched taxis to bring Tay- calculate the present worth of the sold pay- lor to their bars. “I’m not going to say that ments at the time the deals were filed. didn’t happen,” said a manager at Vixens in But one deal, later withdrawn after Bunker Hill, who spoke on the condition of Taylor’s family realized what had hap- anonymity because he didn’t have permis- pened, wasn’t sealed. Records show it sion from the owner to comment. sold life-contingent payments that had an Taylor doesn’t dispute this portrayal, aggregate value of $9,485,320 and a pres- but he called it incomplete. He said friends ent value of $4,082,825. and relatives often pressured him into In return, Taylor would have received spending money, and he wanted to help $12,536. people. He said he bought a new car for Stovall and wired thousands of dollars to a Casinos and strip clubs needy Las Vegas woman whom he met on Analyzing Taylor’s bank records is not Facebook. unlike plotting an earthquake on a seis- By late August of 2012, the $300,000 mograph. There’s a influx of money. The Taylor had received from his first deal had balance skyrockets. Then a series of large nearly evaporated. But Taylor still had cash withdrawals — primarily at casinos plenty left to sell — New York Life was — sucks it away, before more funds again pumping $6,700 into his bank account send the balance soaring. every month — and on Aug. 22, following Cousin Derrik Twyman took Taylor a two-month absence, Structured Asset shopping for furniture after he moved to Funding again appeared on Taylor’s bank Martinsburg and witnessed the results. records with a cash infusion of $1,000. The burn survivor bought more items The company flew him to South Flor- than could fit in his house, Twyman said, ida and took him to two strip clubs, Taylor and wound up piling armchairs next to his has alleged in court filings. His bank state- refrigerator. ments show several purchases in the area Another cousin, Willie Stovall, said that same week in August, including a few he watched Taylor head to the Hollywood expenditures at a Hollywood, Fla., massage Casino at Charles Town Races, take out parlor that state authorities later investi- as much as $10,000, then go to local strip gated for prostitution. Then on Aug. 29, clubs where he’d fish out fistfuls of cash for Wadsworth wired Taylor $7,000 from his performers who flocked to him. own account, according to Taylor’s bank Strippers “would say, ‘I’m waiting to records. And days after that, Heretick filed MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 13

another petition in Portsmouth court. bouncing between friends’ places, the pair Reached for comment, Wadsworth, continued to chat on Facebook. One day who in all wired Taylor $12,000 from his early this year, Taylor asked about his pay- personal account in four transfers between ments past 2044. Could Wadsworth do August of 2012 and October of 2013, said another deal? he “would have to consult with our legal This time, however, Wadsworth counsel to make sure I can make a com- demurred. ment.” Afterward, Wadsworth, now the “I won’t be able to make you an offer,” company’s director of sales, didn’t respond he said in the chat, adding: “What you have to three requests for comments and one remaining is too far out.” letter asking detailed questions. “This is not a common practice,” said ‘Things are going to work out’ company president Savysky, commenting It’s 6 p.m. inside Taylor’s parents’ on the wiring of money to Taylor by Wad- house. Taylor sits in darkness in the living sworth from his personal account. Savysky room, as his mother shears mustard greens said Structured Asset Funding sent Tay- under the kitchen’s fluorescent bulb, fret- lor money at least 39 times over two years ting aloud about paying his daughter’s because Taylor asked for it. “Mr. Taylor tuition bill. solicited our business and requested peri- Taylor’s daughter, who lives with her odic advances,” said Savysky, who did not mother close by, was bullied in public respond to questions about whether his school. So the family enrolled her at pri- company took Taylor to strip clubs. vate school. It’s not cheap, she tells her son. Quick doses of cash are one of the most “I think the way things are going,” Tay- effective methods of attracting or retaining lor replies, “things are going to work out.” clients, said four people who have worked The mother puts down the greens. “You in the business. Rhonda Bentzen, president said the way things are going, you think it’s of the purchasing firm Bentzen Financial, going to work out?” she asks slowly. said she has seen many companies operate “We’ll put it on my Social Security,” this way. “They love to do that with people says Taylor, who lives again with his par- who are mentally incompetent,” she said, ents. “The back money will take care of it.” comparing the easy money to narcotics. “Do you know how much it would take “They do it for the sole purpose of getting [to pay the tuition] for one year?” she asks their hooks into them . . . [and] keep them him. coming back for more.” Taylor looks at the floor. He doesn’t Taylor said he soon came to view Wad- respond. He doesn’t know that the tuition sworth as a friend. Even after he’d been costs $7,800 every year or how much he’ll evicted from his house and spent weeks get in Social Security if he is approved. He MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 KLMNO PAGE 14

can’t say how much money he sold between in advances.” 2012 and 2014 or what he received in If Taylor wins the case, experts say, return. it could bolster calls for industry reform But he does think something was while also encouraging other sellers to sue wrong with what happened. In Febru- the purchasing companies, which industry ary, he sued Structured Asset Funding in blogger Darer and other experts say has U.S. District Court in Alexandria, claim- been relatively rare. ing it had “addicted [him] to easy money, Even now, said analyst Mark Wahl- induced him to spend lavishly on gambling strom, who runs a trade website called the and women and encouraged him to sell Settlement Channel, the case is foment- more in future payments than reasonably ing “mounting angst” over whether struc- appropriate so they could extract as much tured settlements achieve their stated goal profit as possible.” Taylor later withdrew of protecting vulnerable people. If they do the suit with plans to refile in Portsmouth. not have the mental acuity to sell their pay- But before he could, Structured Asset ments, he said, who is to say they had the Funding sued him in Portsmouth Circuit sophistication necessary to agree to the Court in August. In filings submitted by payout in the first place? Stephen Heretick, the firm said Taylor’s Most of the time, Taylor doesn’t like lawsuit breached his contract with the to dwell on the lawsuit or his money prob- business. His allegations “directly contra- lems. He instead focuses on pleasures that dict the . . . sworn statements Mr. Taylor don’t cost anything. He tends to his daugh- made to [Structured Asset Funding] and ter, sings in a church choir, plays video to the Portsmouth Circuit Court during games. But in between, he said, memo- multiple proceedings.” ries of Martinsburg flash — the strip-club Taylor, represented by Connecticut friends who don’t call, the women he now attorney Edward Stone, has since filed a realizes never loved him. series of counterclaims, asserting Struc- The only people who haven’t forgotten tured Asset Funding “called him 10 times him are the purchasing companies. Even per day . . . sent him [money] cards . . . pur- now, he said, they solicit him, asking if he’s chased an ‘X-Box’ and games for Mr. Tay- interested in making some easy money. lor . . . purchased a cell phone for Mr. Taylor [email protected] and . . . paid him approximately $250,000 ABCDE Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington. SU V1 V2 V3 V4

Showers 46/42 • Tomorrow: Rain 62/47 details, B6 MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 washingtonpost.com . $1.50 Perils CHINA’S BACK YARD | PART OF AN OCCASIONAL SERIES A grim of early view of payoffs in Taliban Virginia threat Firms make millions off the injured in purchases TRANSCRIPT FROM of structured settlements HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ‘We haven’t delivered,’ BY TERRENCE MCCOY top Afghan official says Rex Muller has had lots of ten- ants over the years, but none quite BY SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN like Terrence Taylor. He moved into a house miles outside of town but marja, afghanistan — As the couldn’t drive. He was 30 years old Afghanconvoyenteredthebattered but played with toy cars. His face village, Talibanfighters opened fire. was badly disfigured by burns, but U.S.-trained Afghan policemen attractive women often accompa- poured out of their Humvees and nied him. Muller nonetheless trust- began wildly shooting their AK-47 ed Taylor more than most. He had rifles in every direction. lots of money. “The enemy is firing one bullet, When Taylor moved from Fair- and you are responding with doz- fax County to Muller’s Martins- ens!” their commander, Col. Khal- burg, W.Va., townhouse in 2012, il Jawad, screamed into his radio agreeing to pay $870 in monthly in frustration. “Aim, then fire!” rent, he flashed an insurance doc- A minute later, the militants ument bearing impressive num- melted away. On this day in early bers. It said New York Life Insur- December in the southern province ance was paying him $10,000 ev- of Helmand, they had delivered ery month as a result of a lawsuit Tug of war in Central Asia their message: The Taliban is back, settled in 1989. Muller learned its fighters showing a battle disci- that a malfunctioning electric pline and initiative far superior to heater had burst into flames when BY SIMON DENYER China’s march westward into Kazakhstan “This used to be Russia’s back the Afghan security forces trained Taylor was a boy, leaving him dis- IN SHYMKENT, KAZAKHSTAN yard,” said Raffaello Pantucci, and equipped by the United States. figured — and rich. His settlement with its Silk Road project sets up what director of International Secu- In private, top Afghan and would pay him many millions of lowly but surely, a four- some see as a ‘Great Game’ for dominance rity Studies at the Royal United American officials have begun to dollars over the course of his life. lane highway is begin- Services Institute in London, voice increasingly grim assess- Two years later, in June 2014, ning to take shape on “but it is increasingly coming ments of the resurgent Taliban Muller watched as a local deputy the sparsely populated into China’s thrall.” threat, most notably in a previous- knocked at Taylor’s door. Muller Central Asian steppe. It is a shift that has shaken up ly undisclosed transcript of a late- had just taken his tenant, who had SSoviet-era cars, trucks and aging the Russian leadership, which is October meeting of the Afghan not paid rent in three months, to long-distance buses weave past watching China’s advance across National Security Council. court and evicted him. He stepped modern yellow bulldozers, the steppe with apprehension. “We have not met the people’s into the darkened home as Taylor, cranes and towering construc- Moscow and Beijing may speak expectations. We haven’t deliv- an amputee, descended the stairs tion drills, laboring under Chi- the language of partnership ered,” Abdullah Abdullah, the and, without a word, limped past nese supervision to build a road these days, but Central Asia has country’s chief executive, told the him on a prosthetic leg. that could one day stretch from emerged as a source of wariness high-level gathering. “Our forces Taylor had left behind a mess of eastern Asia to Western Europe. and mistrust. lack discipline. They lack rotation toys, dirty dishes and cards written This small stretch of blacktop, For China, the region offers opportunities. We haven’t taken SETTLE CONTINUED ON A6 running past potato fields, bare rich natural resources, but Bei- care of our own policemen and dun-colored rolling hills and jing’s grander commercial plans soldiers. They continue to absorb $11 million fields of grazing cattle, is a — to export its industrial overca- enormous casualties.” symbol of China’s march west- pacity and find new markets for With control of — or a signifi- The aggregate value of structured- ward, an advance into Central its goods — will struggle to find cant presence in — roughly settlement payments that Terrence Asia that is steadily wresting the wings in these poor and sparsely 30 percent of districts across the Taylor of Manassas, Va., sold. region from Russia’s embrace. populated lands. nation, according to Western Here the oil and gas pipelines, PHOTOS BY ADAM DEAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST In September 2013, Chinese and Afghan officials, the Taliban as well as the main roads and the TOP: China is building a superhighway that dissects President Xi Jinping chose Ka- now holds more territory than in $1.4 million railway lines, always pointed Kazakhstan and could one day stretch to Western zakhstan’s sparkling, modern any year since 2001, when the The amount that Taylor received north to the heart of the old Soviet Europe. ABOVE: Chinese workers unload material at new capital, Astana, to announce puritanical Islamists were oust- from companies that purchase Union. Today, those links are be- the construction site of a new cement plant. what has since become a corner- ed from power after the 9/11 structured-settlement payments. ginning to point toward China. CHINA CONTINUED ON A12 AFGHANS CONTINUED ON A13 Binding publishing, philanthropy The A.I. Anxiety born, and the family of four lives Some fear the The world’s spookiest philosopher is Nick Bostrom, a First Book’s efforts on the $35,000 that her husband earns as a phlebotomist. They potential hazards of thin, soft­spoken Swede. Of all the people worried about for children have don’t have much. runaway artificial intelligence, and Killer Robots, and the But the children own the four artificial intelligence — transformed an industry dozen books in a small, home- possibility of a technological doomsday, Bostrom conjures made bookcase, courtesy of First and wonder whether the most extreme scenarios. In his mind, human extinction Book, a nonprofit organization BY LYNDSEY LAYTON that combines market forces and we remain in control could be just the beginning. Kyle Zimmer, philanthropy to get new books Bostrom’s favorite apocalyptic hypothetical involves a In a small, two-bedroom apart- as president into the hands of poor children to of our inventions ment in Corona, Calif., Trinity San- and chief encourage early reading. machine that has been programmed to make paper clips tos, 5, reads her hardcover copy of executive of “I didn’t have books at home (although any mundane product will do). This machine “Green Eggs and Ham” again and the nonprofit when I was growing up in the BY JOEL ACHENBACH again. She never tires of the Dr. organization, Philippines,” said Diane Santos, keeps getting smarter and more powerful, but it never de­ Seuss classic, sometimes reading got more than 33, who connected with First velops human values. It achieves “superintelligence.” It be­ it to her 3-year-old brother, Josh- 15 million new Book through a local parent edu- ua, said their mother, Diane. books into the cation program she attended gins to convert all kinds of ordinary materials into paper Life is a struggle for the Santos hands of needy shortly after Trinity was born. “I clips. Eventually it decides to turn everything on Earth — family. Diane worked as a wait- kids in 2015. learned the most important thing A6 EZ SU ress before her children wereTHE WASHINGTON POST .FIRSTMONDAY BOOK, DECEMBERCONTINUED ON28A,162015 MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015 . THE WASHINGTONINTELLIGENCE POST CONTINUED ON A4 EZ SU A7

SETTLE FROM A6 sidiaries or shell companies, Following the money from injury victim to investor evaporated. But Taylor still had going,” Taylor replies, “things are IN THE NEWS Inside sometimes only refer to sellers by plenty left to sell — New York Life going to work out.” High cost in August of this year. their initials, which Portsmouth Structured settlements belonging to an injured person are paid out over was pumping $6,700 into his The mother puts down the The concerns about Taylor Clerk of Circuit Court Cynthia P. time. If a settlement recipient sells their payments to a purchasing company bank account every month — and greens. “You said the way things THE NATION OBITUARIES STYLE in exchange for upfront cash, those payments can then be transferred to an The death toll from sev­ Robert L. Spitzer, 83, Thewould year prove in fashion true. He squeaked Morrison said “should not be.” on Aug. 22, following a two- are going, you think it’s going to of selling through high school with the help Heretick, she said, was “one of investor. Here's how money awarded to an injured person can end up with an month absence, Structured Asset work out?” she asks slowly. eral days of tumultuous brokered the American Robin Givhan looks at a of special-education classes and the first” attorneys in the area to investor. Funding again appeared on Tay- “We’ll put it on my Social Secu- weather rose to at least 43 Psychiatric Association’s year in which an overdue weekly psychotherapy. He later start using the court’s e-filing lor’s bank records with a cash rity,” says Taylor, who lives again nationwide as tornadoes landmark 1973 vote to Settlement recipient Insurance company settlement doseearned of diversity an associate’s made its degree at a system. Sometimes, she said, infusion of $1,000. with his parents. “The back mon- lashed the Dallas area stop treating homo­ mark, at the celebrity level non-accredited, for-profit school “The only thing coming when he e recipient of a lawsuit The company flew him to South ey will take care of it.” and flash floods hit the sexuality as an illness. B4 andthat beyond. is nowC1 defunct but never files is the last name and the first $ Florida and took him to two strip “Do you know how much it payments Plains and Midwest. A2 1 settlement agrees to a $ landed a job beyond a few monthsDO BETTERinitial, andON we areAU inTO error.LO . .AN . WeS structured settlement, in clubs, Taylor has alleged in court would take [to pay the tuition] for The John Gacy investi­ SPORTS of unskilled work at retail stores. should never accept a case with a filings. His bank statements show one year?” she asks him. Major League Baseball RATES AS LOW AS which money dispenses $ $ SETTLE FROM A1 gation solved 11 unrelated He failed the driver’s license test last name and a first36 initial.” several purchases in the area that Taylor looks at the floor. He cold cases nationwide. A5 and the NFL will investi­ DAILY CODE, DETAILS, B2 MOS in smaller payments four times. “The driving test is Heretick said in an interview Structured- $ same week in August, including a doesn’t respond. He doesn’t know gate allegations in an Al NEW that he files with initials because across decades. by “go-go girls,” Muller recalled. THE ECONOMY hard,”1 said5 6 Taylor,4 33, who speaks settlement few expenditures at a Hollywood, that the tuition costs $7,800 every Strange documents were strewn Jazeera documentary that CAR that is what judges have request- payments Suburban officials in haltingly and without intonation. .49 Fla., massage parlor that state au- year or how much he’ll get in across the kitchen table. “It was a an anti­aging clinic sup­ ed. He said Sword decided to seal Virginia and Maryland BUSINESS“Getting...... your licenseA10 is hard — * Finance company thorities later investigated for Social Security if he is approved. lot of legal mumbo-jumbo,” Muller plied performance­ COMICSthe...... test isn’t easy. TheC6 computer- the% casesAPR to protect sellers’ per- prostitution. Then on Aug. 29, He can’t say how much money he are looking for creative said. “A lot of lawyer talk.” enhancing drugs to NFL LOTTERIESized test...... on the screen.”B3 sonal financial information, call- Wadsworth wired Taylor $7,000 sold between 2012 and 2014 or SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES solutions to fill empty OBITUARIES...... B4 1Applying is easy. No military service is reA quirfinanceed. company can quarterback Peyton Man­ The landlord, however, under- Adding to tensions In Chicago, already in the OPINIONHis PAGES payments...... protectedA14 him ing the practice “commendable.” $$$$ from his own account, according what he received in return. stood enough to know the tenant office parks. A10 ning and the Nationals’ financially. By the time he was in VisitPeoplePenF familiared.org withor call the indus-866-3627-64purchase13 toda a recipient'sy. to Taylor’s bank records. And days But he does think something rights to these payments had been doing a lot of business midst of a policing controversy, officers killed an THE REGION Ryan Zimmerman. D6 his late 20s, his structured settle-*Rates and offerstrycurrent offeredas of aDecember different21, 2015, interpreta-and are subject to change. Your actual APR will be after that, Heretick filed another was wrong with what happened. determined at the time of disbursement and will be based on your application andforcredit a lump-suminformation. Not amount.all deals. “He was selling off his anti-brutality activist and her neighbor. A3 Donald Trump lashed The Washington Red- ment was paying him nearlyapplicants willtion.qualify “Thefor the lo mainwest rate. reasonRate also theydepends doon amount it borrowed and term. Other restrictions, petition in Portsmouth court. In February, he sued Structured Printed using recycled fiber A county judge must loan,” Muller reasoned. out at the Virginia GOP skins looked ahead as $10,000 monthly in untaxedinc in-luding vehicisle toage walland milea offge, [sellers]may apply.Vehic fromle weight com-restrictions apply. Financing up to $100,000. Up Settlement Reached for comment, Wads- Asset Funding in U.S. District to 110% finapetitors,”ncing is available saidto qualifi Johned members Darer,for vehic whole purchases. Newapprovevehicles are wherethe deal.you are Not quite. What Taylor had A victory against ISIS Iraqi forces said they had for its plan to require pri­ they savored a division ti­ come.CONTENT But that© 2015 money didn’t helpthe original owner and the vehicle is a current (2016) or prior model year (2015). Rates as low as 1.49% APR payments worth, who in all wired Taylor Court in Alexandria, claiming it been selling, chunk by chunk, for tle that appeared unlikely, Thehim Washington with Post women. / Year 139, No. “I23 can go toap theplicable torunsnew vehic ales blogfinanced thatfor up to monitors36 months. New thevehicle payment example: $20,000 loan with $12,000 from his personal ac- had “addicted [him] to easy mon- captured the main government compound in mary voters to sign a rate of 1.49% APR, 36 monthly payments of approximately $568.41. pennies on the dollar, was a settle- statement confirming at least from the outside, mall and try to start a conversa- industry. count in four transfers between ey, induced him to spend lavishly ment that had a lifetime expected Ramadi, a city that militants have controlled. A8 for much of the season. D1 tion, and it’s like, ‘I have a boy-Federally insuredAnd inby theNCUA. beginning, when he August of 2012 and October of on gambling and women and they are Republicans. B1 payout of $31.5 million. In numer- friend,’ ” he said. “I’ve heard every still had tens of millions available 2013, said he “would have to encouraged him to sell more in ous deals approved in Virginia excuse there is.” for purchase, there were probably When the deal is Investor consult with our legal counsel to future payments than reasonably courts over two years, Taylor sold Taylor did, however, date one few sellers in Virginia more 3 approved, the payments Settlement make sure I can make a com- appropriate so they could extract everything owed to him through woman, getting her pregnant and sought-after than Terrence Taylor. may be simultaneously payments ment.” Afterward, Wadsworth, as much profit as possible.” Taylor 2044 and was now broke and moving in with her, before the sold to an outside now the company’s director of later withdrew the suit with plans ‘LIFE IS GREAT’ homeless. relationship dissolved. To distance investor, with the sales, didn’t respond to three to refile in Portsmouth. How did this happen, Muller himself from her, he planned a Taylor never dreamed it could purchasing company requests for comments and one But before he could, Structured said he wondered as he picked move to Martinsburg, W.Va., in the be so easy. He had to sign only a letter asking detailed questions. Asset Funding sued him in Ports- taking a cut. $$$$ through the detritus. spring of 2012, where he would be few papers. Then whenever he was “This is not a common practice,” mouth Circuit Court in August. In closer to a cousin — and, for the running short on money, accord- said company president Savysky, filings submitted by Stephen The hub of sales approvals first time, live by himself. ing to a lawsuit later file in federal commenting on the wiring of Heretick, the firm said Taylor’s The answer to that question lay One day around this time, Taylor court, he called Rhett Wadsworth, money to Taylor by Wadsworth lawsuit breached his contract 250 miles south, along the south- said he was leafing through the a salesman for Structured Asset from his personal account. with the business. His allegations ern maw of the Chesapeake Bay, mail when he came across an ad- Funding, and Wadsworth would e investor can keep the Consumer Investor Savysky said Structured Asset “directly contradict the . . . sworn inside the Portsmouth Circuit get him whatever he needed. 4 payments or resell them vertisement. It was from a South $$$$ Funding sent Taylor money at statements Mr. Taylor made to Courthouse. For more than a dec- Florida company named Struc- The first infusion of cash to an individual consumer least 39 times over two years be- [Structured Asset Funding] and ade, this Virginia institution has tured Asset Funding, he said, and it reached his account on April 27, or another investor. Some cause Taylor asked for it. “Mr. to the Portsmouth Circuit Court operated much like an assembly promised fast, easy money. 2012 in the amount of $5,000, his companies bundle Taylor solicited our business and during multiple proceedings.” line for the secretive industry of PHOTOS BY RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST All he had to do was call. bank records show. Another one, hundreds of payments requested periodic advances,” said Taylor, represented by Con- structured-settlement purchas- for $7,000, arrived on May 2. “In and sell them as a highly Settlement Savysky, who did not respond to necticut attorney Edward Stone, People ‘in bad situations’ payments ing. Over the past 15 years, one Through a settlement, Terrence cases where the individual direct- rated bond. questions about whether his com- has since filed a series of counter- lawyer has filed thousands of cas- Taylor, 33, above, was to That phone call ushered Taylor ly requests an advance, we are pany took Taylor to strip clubs. claims, asserting Structured As- es — far more than anywhere else receive an expected $31.5 into a world where companies within our legal means to provide Quick doses of cash are one of set Funding “called him 10 times in the state — at the courthouse, million over his lifetime, but he compete ferociously to find and it,” said Savysky, the company the most effective methods of at- per day . . . sent him [money] where almost all of them have sold his payments through poach customers from competi- president. Source: Sta research CRISTINA RIVERO AND TERRENCE MCCOY/THE WASHINGTON POST tracting or retaining clients, said cards . . . purchased an ‘X-Box’ been approved. 2044 for pennies on the dollar. tors. They comb through court Two $3,000 advances then ma- four people who have worked in and games for Mr. Taylor . . . pur- When four companies struck 10 Louise Taylor, left, shows documents, pay people hundreds terialized in Taylor’s account, the the business. Rhonda Bentzen, chased a cell phone for Mr. Taylor deals with Terrence Taylor in two photos of Terrence after he was of dollars for referrals and even second landing days before Rhett Wadsworth ideas. Rhett Cousin Derrik Twyman took president of the purchasing firm and . . . paid him approximately years, they hired Portsmouth law- burned in 1988. A structured solicit sellers long after they’ve Sword approved Taylor’s first deal said it had to look good on paper Taylor shopping for furniture af- Bentzen Financial, said she has $250,000 in advances.” yer Stephen E. Heretick. Nine of settlement with the space- sold everything. in Portsmouth. The burn survivor for the judge to approve it.” ter he moved to Martinsburg and seen many companies operate this If Taylor wins the case, experts those deals were then assigned to heater manufacturer was One company that scours rec- sold payments that had an aggre- Savysky contested that asser- witnessed the results. The burn way. “They love to do that with say, it could bolster calls for in- now-retired Portsmouth judge reached, and when Terrence ords for people like Taylor is Sene- gate value of $814,999 — and a tion. “The only reason why Ter- survivor bought more items than people who are mentally incompe- dustry reform while also encour- Dean W. Sword, the authority was in his late 20s, his monthly ca One. Based in Bethesda, it files present value of about $724,000 rence Taylor continues to say this could fit in his house, Twyman tent,” she said, comparing the easy aging other sellers to sue the tasked with deciding such cases. payments were $10,000. the majority of its Virginia cases — for about $300,000, his bank is because he stands to gain by said, and wound up piling arm- money to narcotics. “They do it for purchasing companies, which in- And Sword approved every one, in Portsmouth and has been a records show. making these and other unfound- chairs next to his refrigerator. the sole purpose of getting their dustry blogger Darer and other putting five of the deals under seal. client of Stephen Heretick since “LIFE IS GREAT,” he posted on ed allegations,” he said. Another cousin, Willie Stovall, hooks into them . . . [and] keep experts say has been relatively In all, according to Taylor’s at least 2006. Facebook days after Sword ap- Judge Sword sealed five of Tay- said he watched Taylor head to the them coming back for more.” rare. bank records and court docu- judges declined to hear multiple Curtis Montgomery, who proved the deal. “CANT STOP lor’s first six deals, all of which Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Taylor said he soon came to Even now, said analyst Mark ments, the burn survivor sold cases in one session. worked for a few months this year SMILING AND WONT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” were with Structured Asset Fund- Races, take out as much as $10,000, view Wadsworth as a friend. Even Wahlstrom, who runs a trade $11 million of his structured set- So, he said, he met with then- as an account manager at Seneca It would be the best deal Taylor ing. The Post determined the ag- then go to local strip clubs where after he’d been evicted from his website called the Settlement tlement — which had a present Portsmouth Chief Judge Judge One, said the firm maintains a data- would strike. Over the next two gregate value of what Taylor re- he’d fish out fistfuls of cash for house and spent weeks bouncing Channel, the case is fomenting value of about $8.5 million — for James A. Cales Jr., who gave him base with “thousands of [potential years, Taylor would do 10 more ceived versus the value of what he performers who flocked to him. between friends’ places, the pair “mounting angst” over whether roughly $1.4 million, or 16 cents two hour-long slots per month to sellers] from all over the country, approved deals with Structured sold in those sealed transactions Strippers “would say, ‘I’m wait- continued to chat on Facebook. structured settlements achieve on the present dollar. He has sued file as many as he wanted and their names, their phone numbers, Asset Funding and other compa- by examining his bank records ing to talk to Terrence.’ They One day early this year, Taylor their stated goal of protecting the companies, focusing on a assigned Sword to the task. Now their addresses, information we’ve nies. One deal, court records and asking an outside actuary to would call and say, ‘Are you com- asked about his payments past vulnerable people. If they do not South Florida firm named Struc- retired, Cales said he does not received from court documents and show, traded payments that had calculate the present worth of the ing tonight? Come see me.’ And it 2044. Could Wadsworth do an- have the mental acuity to sell tured Asset Funding, which did recall the meeting with Heretick notes — detailed notes.” an aggregate value of $5.3 million sold payments at the time the fed his ego,” Stovall recalled. He other deal? their payments, he said, who is to six deals with him. or making that decision. A former senior official with — and a present value of $4 mil- deals were filed. said strip clubs dispatched taxis This time, however, Wads- say they had the sophistication That Taylor, who had received “We don’t peddle these to the Seneca One, who spoke on the lion — for $389,000, or less than But one deal, later withdrawn to bring Taylor to their bars. “I’m worth demurred. necessary to agree to the payout diagnoses of learning and emo- easiest court we can find,” condition of anonymity, claiming 10 cents on the present dollar. after Taylor’s family realized what not going to say that didn’t hap- “I won’t be able to make you an in the first place? tional disabilities, could so quick- Heretick said. Portsmouth “hap- he feared for his physical safety, Another deal, according to filings, had happened, wasn’t sealed. pen,” said a manager at Vixens in offer,” he said in the chat, adding: Most of the time, Taylor doesn’t ly hemorrhage 30 years’ worth of pens to be where my office is said the database is used to “prey exchanged payments that had an Records show it sold life-contin- Bunker Hill, who spoke on the “What you have remaining is too like to dwell on the lawsuit or his income in deals approved in a located. . . . I’m certainly not go- on who’s likely to sell their pay- aggregate value of $1.6 million — gent payments that had an aggre- condition of anonymity because far out.” money problems. He instead fo- courthouse he never visited is the ing to drive six hours for a case in ments the most.” Most people, and a present value of $844,000 gate value of $9,485,320 and a he didn’t have permission from cuses on pleasures that don’t cost result of Virginia’s failure to prop- Patrick County.” Instead, sellers once they start doing deals, he — for $40,000, or less than 5 cents present value of $4,082,825. the owner to comment. ‘Things are going to work out’ anything. He tends to his daugh- erly regulate and monitor an in- need to drive hours to Ports- said, will sell everything within on the present dollar. In return, Taylor would have Taylor doesn’t dispute this por- It’s 6 p.m. inside Taylor’s par- ter, sings in a church choir, plays dustry that makes tens of millions mouth — but few do. Heretick two years — a period referred to In interviews and court docu- received $12,536. trayal, but he called it incomplete. ents’ house. Taylor sits in dark- video games. But in between, he off some of the state’s most vul- estimated that about 1 in 20 ap- as the “perishable period.” ments, Taylor said the purchasing He said friends and relatives of- ness in the living room, as his said, memories of Martinsburg nerable residents, a Washington estimate that courts there ap- es. “Essentially,” he said, “the cir- Waters, a Roanoke consultant Portsmouth Chief Judge Johnny pears in court. New associates, Montgomery companies “coached” him in com- Casinos and strip clubs ten pressured him into spending mother shears mustard greens flash — the strip-club friends who Post investigation has found. prove deals at a rate of about cuit courts have been and remain who has spent decades working E. Morrison declined to comment He said he’s never had con- said, go “fishing” by cold-calling ing up with “false” reasons to Analyzing Taylor’s bank rec- money, and he wanted to help under the kitchen’s florescent don’t call, the women he now Unlike traditional settlements, 75 percent. on their own to resolve these mat- with injured people on structured on why these deals were sealed. cerns that people don’t know people in the database. “They explain why he needed the mon- ords is not unlike plotting an people. He said he bought a new bulb, fretting aloud about paying realizes never loved him. which are paid out in one sum, In the District, there is no law ters.” settlements. In the remaining 69 deals, the what they’re getting into. look for the clients that are in bad ey. In one affidavit that Taylor earthquake on a seismograph. car for Stovall and wired thou- his daughter’s tuition bill. The only people who haven’t structured settlements dispense addressing the sale of structured The Post examined every case His comments were echoed by court filings show, companies “I don’t take cases” he said, situations,” he said, adding that signed, it said he needed money There’s a influx of money. The sands of dollars to a needy Las Taylor’s daughter, who lives with forgotten him are the purchasing the payout in portions over a settlements, so judges follow laws Heretick filed in 2013 that was eight experts familiar with the purchased payments that had an “that I have doubts about.” he has seen sales agents pay peo- to pay down credit-card debt. balance skyrockets. Then a series Vegas woman whom he met on her mother close by, was bullied in companies. Even now, he said, lifetime to protect vulnerable established in the insurance com- assigned to Sword, when he ap- deals in Portsmouth. “It’s hard for aggregate value of $10 million — But Heretick later clarified that ple $50 to stay on the line for five Another said he wanted money to of large cash withdrawals — pri- Facebook. public school. So the family en- they solicit him, asking if he’s people from immediately spend- pany’s home state — and some- proved seven of Taylor’s deals. That me to see that a judge could . . . and a present value of $7.5 million statement. Had he known what minutes. start a nonprofit organization. All marily at casinos — sucks it away, By late August of 2012, the rolled her at private school. It’s not interested in making some easy ing it all. Since 1975, insurance times go beyond them. Most judg- year, Heretick petitioned Sword at understand what are in the [sell- — for $2.2 million, or about 29 he knows now, he said, there is a “Any way to get in and get them of these explanations, he now before more funds again send the $300,000 Taylor had received cheap, she tells her son. money. firms have committed an estimat- es “make an inquiry to ensure that least 594 times and frequently filed ers’] best interests and turn cents on the present dollar. case he might have declined to to talk,” he said. An associate says, were not true. They “were balance soaring. from his first deal had nearly “I think the way things are [email protected] ed $350 billion to these agree- the person understands, and deals in bulk. Weeks later, the through them this quickly,” said Andrew Larsen, one of the na- take: “The Terrence Taylor case.” might tell a potential client ments, spawning a secondary they’re not getting abused, ” said judge would rule on dozens — and Brennan Neville, an attorney with tion’s foremost experts on struc- “ ‘You’re owed money. . . . They market in which companies com- Thomas Papson, a D.C. Legal Aid once, 52 — in an hour-long hear- Berkshire Hathaway Life Insur- tured settlements, called those Fast, easy money might not pay you the rest of your pete to buy payments for a small- Society lawyer whom judges ap- ing. Overall, Sword approved ance Co. profit margins “egregious.” “If you On a Wednesday evening in money if you don’t do this,’ ” er amount of upfront cash. point to represent sellers at hear- 95 percent of the deals. The Post reviewed 160 deals, look at what is considered a fair April of 1988, Taylor wandered Montgomery said. The goal, he Such deals, industry advocates ings. Sword didn’t respond to multi- randomly selected, of the 566 that profit margin in other industries, I into the master bedroom at his said, is to ultimately build up a say, get desperate people the But industry experts say weak- ple requests for comment, includ- Sword approved in 2013. The fil- don’t think anyone is making these parents’ Herndon home to watch “pipeline” of “remarkets” — peo- money they need for emergencies nesses in Virginia’s law have ing one letter that asked whether ings generally include affidavits terms,” said Larsen, former presi- “Wheel of Fortune” and closed the ple who do continuous deals. and big expenses, such as home made the state particularly ap- he reviewed the deals before the signed by sellers explaining why dent of the National Structured door. Warmed by a space heater at Monty Hagler, a spokesman for purchases. But they also expose pealing to purchasing companies hearings, as well as other detailed they wanted the money. They spell Settlements Trade Association. his side, the 6-year-old fell asleep. Seneca One, did not dispute sellers to the risk that they will looking for quick and easy profits questions. out how much sellers would have Some of the deals were even Soon after, black smoke wafted Montgomery’s recollection but exchange lifetimes’ worth of in- that could shortchange sellers. A survey of the 300 or so cases received, including interest, had more questionable, experts say.For from underneath the door. Tay- questioned his credibility in dis- come for pittances. Structured-settlement recipients Heretick filed this year shows they waited to collect everything — example, Heretick filed one deal in lor’s father kicked it open and cussing the company’s work. Dur- Virginia is among 49 states in Virginia who want to sell their that Judge William S. Moore Jr., called aggregate value. They show which a Virginia man sold pay- found his son collapsed on the ing his tenure, Montgomery nev- that have passed legislation to payments are not obligated to who now acts as the primary how much the payments were ments that had an aggregate value floor. A helicopter was dispatched er completed a deal and was protect sellers of structured set- attend hearings. They’re allowed Portsmouth judge handling the worth at the time of sale — called of $164,760 — and a present value to transport Taylor to the District, terminated because of poor per- tlements by requiring county to waive their right to independ- settlement sales, approved deals present value. And they also show of $106,936 — for $3,000. And where doctors at Children’s Na- formance, Hagler said, adding courts to discern whether a deal is ent counsel and almost always do. at a rate of nearly 85 percent. how much the company agreed to another deal the attorney filed sold tional Medical Center worried that the firing was “ugly. . . . He in the seller’s best interest. But Companies can file their deals Moore did not respond to three pay the seller upfront. payments that had an aggregate that they could not save him. said, ‘I’m going to expose you.’ ” some laws contain loopholes, and anywhere in the state. requests for comment. But the public record in Ports- value of $250,000 — and a present Numerous surgeries and sev- Industry depictions do not re- the strongest protections have The de facto clearinghouse for “The feeling within the indus- mouth is remarkably skeletal. value of $168,531 — for $3,658. eral amputations later, Terrence flect the practices of Structured generally been implemented in these transactions has become try in Virginia is that that particu- Ninety-one of the 160 cases The Both of these deals paid people less Taylor looked at himself in the Asset Funding, said president An- states that have seen complaints Portsmouth Circuit Court, where lar court would pretty much rub- Post reviewed were sealed— a than 3 cents on the dollar. mirror. “The 6-year-old who drew Savysky. “We care about our of abuse. most deals are approved and few ber-stamp anything without rate that five experts, in inter- In an interview, Heretick said stares back . . . is missing a face, a customers and hope they use the After a Post report this summer sellers attend hearings, according much investigation,” said Bobby views, called highly unusual. the discrepancy between purchase right leg, the fingers on his right proceeds we give them to better that found judges in Maryland to an examination of thousands of price and present value comes hand, confidence and the inno- their lives,” he said. routinely approved deals in public records and interviews down to risk. For instance, life- cence of youth,” reads a Post arti- Montgomery’s assertions were which firms bought payments be- with industry insiders. Terrence Taylor’s structured settlement contingent payments, which stop cle published in January of 1989. echoed by the former Seneca One longing to victims of lead poison- Over the past 15 years, Heretick if a recipient dies, aren’t guaran- Months later, Taylor visited a senior official and a current ac- ing for dimes on the dollar, that has submitted the overwhelming 1990 1990 teed to purchasers. Payments vocational rehabilitation counsel- count executive, who spoke on the state’s highest court reformed ju- majority of the state’s cases in Terrence Taylor began receiving payments from a scheduled decades in the future, or, who described the boy as having condition of anonymity out of fear dicial procedures to require that Portsmouth, where he has a near structured settlement that had a lifetime expected he said, have less value because of a cognitive “deficiency,”which like- of losing his job. The three said the 2000 businesses that buy settlements monopoly on the legal work. payout of $31.5 million. uncertain economic forecasts. ly predated the burns but could most important part of the process file their cases where sellers live Heretick, who was a Portsmouth Sellers who strike these deals, “accelerate” in their aftermath. is securing court approval. and disclose how often sellers had City Council member between 2010 he said, do so out of necessity, Taylor was also diagnosed with “Lawyers in each company sold in the past. 2004 and 2012, won a seat in the Between 2012 and 2014 securing money through the post-traumatic stress disorder and have [a list of] reasonable expla- To ensure that companies do House of Delegates in November. rough a number of deals, Taylor sells everything transactions that they could not dysthymic disorder, which related nations that companies will look not file exclusively to amenable Since 2000, he has also worked as 2020 owed to him through 2044 for pennies on the get otherwise. “If they didn’t have to “feelings of inadequacy, loss of at,” said the former senior official, judges, deals in New York and an attorney for more than a dozen dollar. In all, he received $1.4 million  or about that ability, there could be lots of self-esteem [and] decreased atten- such as buying a house or paying Oregon must be submitted where purchasing firms and filed about 2030 16 cents on the present dollar  in exchange for people out there who could be tion and concentration.” off debt. “Then the in-house coun- the seller lives. In Illinois, sellers 6,100 cases in Portsmouth. The payments with an aggregate value of $11 million getting hundreds of thousands of That year, in 1989, Taylor settled sel writes the [seller’s] affidavit must attend court hearings so Post found fewer than 350 cases and a present value of $8.5 million.* dollars . . . years from now who a lawsuit against the space-heater knowing what . . . the judge who that judges can assess whether that Heretick and other lawyers 2040 might be homeless today.” manufacturer and entered into a is likely assigned will like.” they understand the deals’ terms. filed in other Virginia jurisdic- 2044 Heretick ascribes his high ap- structured settlement with a life- He said Virginia is one of the Toprevent predatory deals, North tions during those years. proval rate — “easily” over 90 time expected payout of $31.5 mil- most popular states in which to 2050 Taylor, who would be in his 60s, will once again Carolina’s 1999 law capped how Until 2014, when the judge re- begin receiving payments. percent, he said — to his years of lion. “Because of the severe physi- file these petitions because it is a much companies can profit per tired from the bench, Heretick’s experience filing these deals and cal and psychological injuries to “rubber-stamp state where the deal. And in California, sellers’ petitions were almost exclusively his understanding of what will Terrence, all parties . . . were con- [seller] doesn’t need to appear.” attorneys must be notified if they assigned to Sword, who once not- *Present value is the amount the structured-settlement payments are worth at and will not be approved in Ports- cerned about Terrence’s ability to And at the Portsmouth court- the time of sale. Aggregate value is the amount sellers would have received, try to sell their payout within five ed in a ruling how little attention mouth. When he first started in care for himself,” Taylor’s attorney, house, their names may not ap- including interest, had they waited to collect everything. years of getting it. Experts famil- the Virginia Supreme Court has the industry, he said, he drove Robert Muse, wrote in an affidavit pear on the court docket, as well. Terrence Taylor, 33, and his daughter, Braelyn, 8, watch TV at his Manassas, Va., home with his mother, Louise Taylor. After selling millions in future settlement iar with scrupulous jurisdictions paid to structured-settlement cas- Source: Sta reports TERRENCE MCCOY/THE WASHINGTON POST three hours to Lynchburg, but SETTLE CONTINUED ON A7 Many firms, which file using sub- payments and spending the money he received, Terrence Taylor is again living with his parents.