Edelson Lechtzin LLP is pleased to announce that U.S. District Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II of the Southern District of Florida has approved a $38 million settlement of our class action lawsuit against Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC, which served as the legal advisors to A Better Financial Plan.
Judge Ruiz noted that Eckert Seamans denied any wrongdoing and agreed to the deal on the condition it also bars potential future claims from members of the proposed class or the receivership entities. As reflected in the order, there were no objections to the settlement. This settlement will end the class litigation that began in August 2020.
Judge Ruiz further stated, “The court finds that the allocations and consideration for the affected parties among the putative class plaintiffs and the receivership entities delineated in the settlement agreement are fair and reasonable, both individually and as a whole.”
The order is one of numerous recent payout orders issued in the litigation over the Par Funding merchant cash advance Ponzi scheme. The class action and the SEC’s case both targeted the companies and the individuals behind the Ponzi scheme. Eckert Seamans was alleged to have assisted the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based A Better Financial Plan create the so-called agent-fund model that was used to collect investor funds that fueled Par Funding’s merchant cash advance scheme.
The case is U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Complete Business Solutions Group Inc. d/b/a Par Funding et al., case number 9:20-cv-81205, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.