Litigation

A number of settlement professionals have been solicited today by Society of Settlement Planners' Treasurer-elect, Rhonda Bentzen with what appears to be a securities solicitation.

The following represents the body of an email that Rhonda Bentzen sent to at least two, but believed to be more, individuals in the structured settlement industry.

In her solicitation she stated:

"In addition to my regular factoring product through Bentzen Financial, I am also now offering (emphasis added) a much needed non-qualified product through The St. James Group and Oppenheimer.   The basic details of this program are included in the enclosed file.  Please provide me with any questions that you may have.  This is hot off the press, so things are a bit rusty looking for now but I wanted to get the news out anyways!

Best Regards Rhonda"

This author is aware that Bentzen has made offers of this product via telephone to another individual and may have done so to others.

The enclosure referred to in Rhonda Bentzen's email includes both a brochure and a Powerpoint slide show that said, among  other things the following:

Annuity assets will be sourced through OppenheimerFunds

  ? US treasury bills

  ? mix of low risk and equities instruments determined by settlement agreement and risk profile of payee

At the time of writing, neither Bentzen Financial, nor Rhonda Bentzen, individually, are listed in the Broker Check data base at Financial Services regulatory Authority (FINRA), or the RIA, Investor Adviser Representative database at the SEC.

No mention of any broker dealer of investment advisory affiliation in Rhonda Bentzen's email solicitation either.

Was Rhonda Bentzen's email and the the attachments thereto, approved sales material as that term is defined in securities regulations?

Would such solicitation fly by your compliance department? We'd like to hear from you.

One wonders how such solicitation by an officer and board member of the Society of Settlement Planners is compliant with the SSP's own bylaws?

Industry professionals may recognize the St. James Group as the firm which provided the management team for Prudential Assignments Corporation, the non qualified assignment facility in Barbados used by Prudential Structured Settlements until June 2009. A call to St. James Group has yet to be returned.