Lyndsy Noell was desperate for cash. One day in 2015, she saw a television commercial showing her how to get it.
Then, in late 2015, she received a Facebook message from a representative of Liberty Settlement Funding, which was then a subsidiary of a Miami-based private equity firm called 777 Partners. “In terms of the bad human component, it’s up there with the worst I’ve ever seen,” Stone said of the allegations about Liberty described in the parents’ lawsuit. “All they cared about was buying up all her annuity.”
Even as a rising number of rich Americans buy into the world’s most popular sport, Wander and 777 Partners stand out for their splashy entrance into a market dominated by old European money and Middle Eastern oil wealth. They started in 2018, buying a minority stake in the Spanish La Liga club Sevilla. In 2021, they bought Italian Serie A club Genoa, the oldest club in the country.
“They’ve never been convicted of anything,” he said. “Anyone can file allegations. That doesn't make it true.” “Mr. Wander made a mistake more than 20 years ago when he was in his early 20s,” said Lipchitz, the attorney for 777. “Since then, he has worked tirelessly to build his career.”That career started at Structured Asset Funding, a cash-for-annuity company. After the 2008 financial crash, Wander left for another company in the same industry, SuttonPark.
SuttonPark quickly became a major player —"the largest buyer in the secondary market for structured settlements at that time‚ to my knowledge,” said Hasham Malik, who from 2007 to 2011 was head of capital markets for Peachtree, one of the major originators in the industry. “And given the margins at that time, it’s likely they were producing a lot of cash.
Bentzen recalled going to a Las Vegas casino with Wander during a work trip and watching him gamble away thousands of dollars in a slot machine. “He doesn’t even think twice about it,” she said. Court records offer a glimpse of Wander’s spending habits. Bellagio sued him in 2012 for failing to pay back $54,500 of a cash advance at the casino. American Express sued him in 2013 for missing payments on a credit card that had racked up a balance of around $245,000.
In 2017, Jafri resigned. When she started her own pre-settlement cash advance company, Signal sued her, accusing her of stealing trade secrets. Jafri disputed that claim, stating in court that there were no trade secrets to steal because practices are similar across the industry. She then filed her lawsuit against Signal and 777 Partners, alleging that she experienced a hostile work environment and was paid less than male colleagues with similar job responsibilities.
In a statement, 777 declined to comment on pending litigation, other than to note that “anyone can make unfounded allegations in a complaint. It does not make them true.” Homeowners who violated the terms owed MV Realty tens of thousands of dollars in fees, and state authorities estimate that MV Realty signed around 32,000 clients across the country.These practices, North Carolina’s complaint alleged, “are particularly damaging and exploitative because they prey on, and take advantage of, vulnerable” people who are often “experiencing significant financial hardship.
Those who have worked with Wander described a relentless pursuit of new moneymaking opportunities. As the NFL negotiated a settlement with retired players who suffered brain damage from playing the sport, Chodes recalled Wander assigning salespeople to try to sign some of them to cash advance deals.“When you have people who are specifically cognitively impaired, they may not be competent to make that financial transaction,” he said. “That was a major concern.
The object of their ire: the club’s new American owners. “777 not welcome,” a large sign in the stands read. Each of the clubs in 777’s portfolio was mired in financial turmoil when the company swooped in — bleeding money, soliciting former players for donations, gutting their rosters, drowning in debt. During the 2021-22 season, Hertha Berlin lost around 80 million euros, Genoa lost 60 million, and Standard Liège lost more than 20 million. Vasco da Gama carries more than $100 million in debt.