Legal and business experts said there are scores of firms providing advances to tens of thousands of plaintiffs each year. The company advanced her $2,000 against an anticipated future legal settlement, she said. “That is just opportunistic.”Colwell said his firm had been providing cash advances to women with sexual-harassment claims for 15 years. Only a handful of states regulate or license the settlement-advance firms, and little more than a website is necessary to get into the business. Shaw hedge fund, the private equity firms Parthenon Capital and Victory Park Capital, and Germany’s DZ Bank have either bought stakes in or lent money to settlement-advance firms.

Source: thestar January 29, 2018 19:41 UTC