Macy Hanson – Crusader
Macy Hanson, an attorney out of Mississippi appears to have risen to the level of a crusader against some student loan assistance companies.
Once a situation escalates to the crusader level and it becomes personal, watch out. Or at the very least, watch the cases closely if you are a client of any of the parties or you are involved with a student loan assistance company.
From looking at cases filed for clients, it appears Hanson is an aggressive consumer attorney. It also appears he now has his teeth in the student loan assistance niche and is pursuing companies, or some companies aggressively.
This Case Caught My Attention Recently
This case was filed on September 17, 2021, in the Southern District of Florida by Hanson and the Joshua S. Horton Law Firm.
This suit names the following as defendants, National Legal Staffing Support, LLC, Gregory Fishman, Julie Queler, Kevin Mason, Resolvly, LLC; Backend Resolve, LLC; JG Factor, LLC; P. Benjamin Zuckerman; and Berger Singerman, LLP.
The suit says it is a complaint for civil violations of the federal RICO Act; legal malpractice; fraud; breaches of fiduciary duties; and negligent retention and/or supervision.
I have no idea if Hanson has risen to the level of the top expert in these types of cases but his experience in multiple such cases is certainly leading to his robust understanding of issues.
In fact, I believe one of the student loan assistance companies is even suing Macy Hanson in return.
Far Too Early to Predict What Will Happen
Honestly, I don’t think anyone can predict with any certainty what will happen in this or other cases. I won’t even try. But if you are interested, you can get case alerts here.
To complicate the pronostication even more, some of the defendants are waring against each other. The Julie Queler situation is unique and unresolved.
But what will happen as more arrows are shot back and forth is the court documents will create a roadmap for other attorneys and regulators to discover information they didn’t know before.
Read the Lawsuit Like a Story
I don’t know if all the facts alleged in the complaint are factual, but the attorneys filing the case belive them to be.
Facts in a lawsuit can only be proven in a court of law so when you read the allegations of this suit, keep in mind the case is ongoing.
Allegations Made in the Lawsuit
The following is directly from the suit filed.
INTRODUCTION
1. This is a four-plaintiff consumer case, brought by the above-named Plaintiffs, about an illegal nationwide, advanced-fee, student loan debt elimination telemarketing scam, operated and devised by the Defendants, that leaves vulnerable debtors, like Plaintiffs, tens of thousands of dollars poorer [These losses are in addition to the Plaintiffs’ consequential damages suffered as a result of the Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program”.], and worse, in exchange for broken promises about impossible legal services that never are, and never could be, actually performed.
2. The non-Berger Singerman Defendants, through their web of business relationships [In the case of Benjamin Zuckerman and Berger Singerman (together, “the Berger Singerman Defendants”), specifically, the Plaintiffs’ allegations revolve around those Defendants’ actions in actively devising, designing, forming, and advising the web of businesses that directly comprise the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ student loan debt “elimination” program at issue in this lawsuit. All references in this Complaint to “Defendants” do not include Defendants, Benjamin Zuckerman or Berger Singerman, unless specifically stated.], engage in illegal cold-call-telemarketing to solicit consumers, like Plaintiffs, struggling with their private student loan debt to enroll in the Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program” – which turns out to be nothing more than the Defendants’ Enterprise’s illegal collection of up-front fees for the performance of little, if any, legitimate legal and debt elimination services.
3. In brief, the “student loan debt resolution” racket at issue in this lawsuit works as follows: Resolvly, LLC, a shell limited liability company controlled and owned by Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, purchases, repackages and launders sales-leads from non-Florida Bar approved lawyer referral companies [ 3 Like Crown Media Co., LLC; and ProvenDirection, Inc.], of consumers, like Plaintiffs, who have large private student loan balances. The Defendants particularly focus their marketing efforts on consumers who are struggling with making timely payments on their private student loan accounts.
4. Resolvly, then, cold-calls the consumers, like Plaintiffs, or it has its agents, like Crown Media Co., initiate the cold-calls to its sales-leads to enroll these consumers in what the sales agents market as the “law firm’s” student loan debt elimination “program”.
5. The sales staff [Upon information and belief, the NLSS and Resolvly sales staff is directly supervised by Gregory Fishman, Joseph DeVito, and Ari Pollan.] of this Enterprise, employees of Resolvly and National Legal Staffing Support, LLC (“NLSS”), or their agents, like Crown Media Co., represent to the recipients of these cold-calls, like Plaintiffs, that they work for “the law firm” – that being the law firm of attorneys, Kevin Mason and Chantel Grant, GM Law Firm, LLC [5 Initially, the attorney marketing fronts for the Defendants’ “program” were Stuart Goldberg (from March 2015 until October 2015), followed by Kevin Mason (beginning in 2015), and then Kevin Mason and Chantel Grant of GM Law Firm (beginning in 2016). Stuart Goldberg was fired from his own law firm, Stuart Goldberg, P.A., by the Berger Singerman Defendants, on behalf of all Defendants, in October 2015. The “program attorney” then became Kevin Mason, exclusively, from October 2015 through August 1, 2016, when Chantel Grant joined Kevin Mason as the joint “program attorneys”, and when they converted the former Kevin Mason, P.A., into the entity, GM Law Firm, LLC, with the Florida Secretary of State. Kevin Mason resigned from his involvement with the Defendants’ “program”, and GM Law Firm, effective December 31, 2016. Since January 1, 2017, Chantel Grant has been the sole owner of GM Law Firm and the sole attorney marketing front for the Defendants’ program.]. Further, the sales agents on these telemarketing calls represent to the recipients of the calls, like Plaintiffs, that they offer a debt elimination program that will eliminate all the consumers’ private student loan debt for payment of fifty cents on the dollar [6 The Defendants’ marketing agents do not make clear to whom, precisely, these payments ultimately flow. Like all aspects of the Defendants’ “program”, these details are never provided to the Defendants’ clients, like Plaintiffs, even when the clients repeatedly press the Defendants’ agents for these answers. The sales staff identifies themselves as working for “the law firm”, but the truth is that they are marketed for an Enterprise controlled, managed, and owned by Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, to whom an overwhelming bulk of the client payments flow.] of the principal balance of the consumer’s total student loan balance, to be paid over 60 [7 With the exception of Lindsey Crits, whose payment plan included 62 months’ of program payments.] monthly payments.
6. Resolvly and NLSS’, or their agents’, marketing pitch to Plaintiffs was as follows: that after completing the “law firm’s” “debt elimination program”, and after paying of half of the amount of their total enrolled student loan balances – this program fee being paid over 60 equal monthly payments drawn from Plaintiffs’ bank accounts by an automated clearing house – that Plaintiffs’ entire student loan balance would be completely eliminated as a legal liability.
7. These representations, relied upon by Plaintiffs, were lies. The Defendants’ “debt elimination program” did not eliminate any of the private student loans that Plaintiffs “enrolled” into their program. Instead of eliminating the Plaintiffs’ enrolled student loan debts, as promised, the Defendants’ program, through the entities NLSS and GM Law Firm, engages in activities that give the appearance of legitimate debt relief services, but that provide little, if any, actual value to their clients.
8. GM Law Firm, and its “legal outsourcing company”, NLSS, merely send cease and deist letters to their clients’ creditors, while disputing the reporting of these debts with the major credit bureaus without any basis for said disputes (which ultimately fail, because there is no basis for the disputes). GM Law Firm, NLSS, and the Defendants Enterprise as a whole, then sit back and hope that their clients’ creditors do not file collection lawsuits when the loans inevitably go into default.
9. The attorney marketing fronts for this racket, Florida attorneys, Kevin Mason and Chantel Grant [8 Prior to Kevin Mason and Chantel Grant, Florida attorney, Stuart Goldberg, was the attorney marketing front for Defendants’ “program”. However, upon information and belief, Stuart Goldberg discovered that the Defendants’ operation was a scam early into his involvement with it. Stuart Goldberg, then, had his relationship terminated by Benjamin Zuckerman with this “program”, but the managers of the Enterprise at issue in this lawsuit – namely, Gregory Fishman, Julie Queler, Resolvly, JG Factor, and NLSS – continued to use Stuart Goldberg’s name on the “program materials” for this racket. This practice continued until Kevin Mason and Chantel Grant later became the new attorney marketing fronts for the Enterprise’s “program” that at issue in this lawsuit.], and their associates at GM Law Firm, provide the cover of legitimacy for the illegal “debt elimination” program that the Defendants, collectively, and in concert, operate. The use of attorney marketing fronts, like Kevin Mason and Chantel Grant, and their law firm, GM Law Firm, LLC [9 Kevin Mason and Chantel Grant formed GM Law Firm, LLC, with the Florida Secretary of State as a conversion of the prior business entity, Kevin Mason, P.A., on August 2, 2016. The Defendants formed Kevin Mason, P.A., on January 5, 2015.], to provide an air of legitimacy to this “debt elimination program” is essential to the racket’s success in enrolling new clients (victims), like Plaintiffs.
10. Further, the “program” at issue in this action is not driven by the attorneys of “the law firm”, whether they be Chantel Grant, Kevin Mason, or, prior to their involvement, Stuart Goldberg. The Enterprise is effectively owned, managed, and controlled by Gregory Fishman, Benjamin Zuckerman, and Julie Queler, who plug, and unplug, the attorney marketing-fronts into this “program” and fire them from the “program” at their discretion, through the business entities, Resolvly, NLSS.
11. Gregory Fishman, through his companies’ attorney, Benjamin Zuckerman of the Berger Singerman law firm, terminated the first attorney marketing-front, Stuart Goldberg, as the “program attorney” from his own law firm, Stuart Goldberg, P.A., in October 2015; Gregory Fishman then plugged in Kevin Mason (a former associate of Benjamin Zuckerman) and Kevin Mason, P.A., into that role in October 2015; later, in August of 2016, Gregory Fishman plugged Chantel Grant into what is now known as GM Law Firm to fill the “program attorney” role. Chantel Grant remains the “program attorney” for Defendants’ “student loan debt elimination program”.
12. The clients of this program, like Plaintiffs, are only told of the change in their “program attorneys” after these changes take place, and with no explanation for why their attorney has changed without their consent. Sometimes, as with Lindsey Crits, this information was not conveyed until April 7, 2017; and the fact that Kevin Mason had left Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm effective December 31, 2016, was not disclosed (instead stating “As you may already know, due to our unprecedented growth, we have added more attorneys to represent you. To celebrate this welcome addition, we have changed our name from Kevin Mason, P.A. to GM Law Firm, LLC.”).
13. Plaintiffs were each enrolled as clients of Kevin Mason and Kevin Mason, P.A., the predecessor of GM Law Firm, LLC, after being solicited by agents of Resolvly and NLSS, from 2015-2016.
14. Gregory Fishman, through Benjamin Zuckerman of the Berger Singerman law firm, terminated Stuart Goldberg as the first “program attorney”, via termination agreements between Stuart Goldberg and Resolvly, NLSS, and JG Factor in October 2015. Gregory Fishman and Benjamin Zuckerman preferred Kevin Mason over Stuart Goldberg as the “program attorney” because, unlike Stuart Goldberg, Kevin Mason allowed NLSS and Resolvly employees to robo- sign his name on documents and he, Kevin Mason, permitted the Resolvly sales staff to be more aggressive in making promises of debt elimination to emoll more clients than Stuart Goldberg permitted them to do. Stuart Goldberg objected to these practices and was terminated as the “program attorney” by Gregory Fishman and Benjamin Zuckerman in response to these objections.
15. In addition, once the consumer is “enrolled” into the “program” – through Resolvly and NLSS sales agents obtaining the consumers e-signature on the program’s legal services and automated clearinghouse forms – the entire balance of the consumer’s program payments is sold off, or “factored”, as an account receivable to a company named JG Factor, LLC. All consumer accounts, including Plaintiffs, are sold for only 10-15 cents on the dollar from the program law firm to JG Factor in an exclusive arrangement. JG Factor is owned by Julie Queler and Gregory Fishman – they are the “JG” in JG Factor. The program law firm, now GM Law Firm, must enter into this exclusive factoring agreement with JG Factor in order to receive clients from Resolvly and NLSS. 85%-90% of the so- called “legal fees” [10 These are not legal fees because the payments first flow to NLSS, who pays Resolvly its referral fee off the top, followed by NLSS paying itself for its “outsourcing services”, followed by paying JG Factor, with any remainder ultimately being paid to the program law firm by NLSS. There are no direct payments between the consumer, the client, and the law firm under this “program”. ultimately flow to Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, the owners of NLSS, as well.] flow to Julie Queler and Gregory Fishman, non-attomeys, via JG Factor. Further, a separate $1,250 referral fee is paid by the program law firm, now GM Law Firm, off the top, to Resolvly (which then flows to Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler). Separately, and additionally yet, the program law firm must agree to an exclusive legal service outsourcing agreement with NLSS and to pay NLSS outsourcing fees for its staff, from $45-$65 per hour. The NLSS fees
16. Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, through this closed circuit of purchased and laundered client leads, telemarketed debt relief services, exclusive legal outsourcing agreements, and exclusive and mandatory factoring agreements – all operated through Resolvly, Backend Resolve, LLC, NLSS, GM Law Firm, and JG Factor – have managed to develop an enterprise that allows them, as non- attorneys, to capture over 90% of all so-called “legal fees” involved in this so- called student loan debt elimination “program”. This entire framework, including the legal services agreement used to bind the Defendants’ victims to the illegal, unethical, and misrepresented terms of their “program”, was devised by the architect of this entire enterprise, attorney Benjamin Zuckerman of the Berger Singerman law firm.
17. Backend Resolve, LLC (“Backend Resolve”), is another Delaware limited liability company formed by Benjamin Zuckerman and Berger Singerman in 2015 to act as some sort of holding and/or management company that sits atop the corporate hierarchy of the entities that form the student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this lawsuit. Upon information and belief, Backend Resolve is owned by Gregory Fishman, Julie Queler, and to a much smaller extent, John Sabia. These ownership interests of Backend Resolve are likely in the form of presently unknown shell companies owned by Gregory Fishman, Julie Queler, and John Sabia.
18. Throughout the relevant period (at least since 2015) [11 Upon information and belief, Chantel Grant’s involvement with this Enterprise did not begin until 2016.], the Defendants have engaged individually, and in concert with one another, in unlawful, abusive, and unfair practices with respect to the attorney-client relationships formed with the Plaintiffs and the program attorneys, program law firms, and their agents, like NLSS, Resolvly, Backend Resolve, and JG Factor.
19. The Plaintiffs plead the following claims against the following Defendants: (a) claims for civil violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) as to all named Defendants (excluding Berger Singerman, LLP, only, and including P. Benjamin Zuckerman, individually); (b) fraud as to Resolvly, LLC, Backend Resolve, LLC, National Legal Staffing Support, LLC, Gregory Fishman, and Julie Queler only; (c) claims for attorney malpractice against GM Law Firm, LLC, Chantel Grant, and Kevin Mason only; (d) breaches of fiduciary duties against Kevin Mason, Chantel Grant, and GM Law Firm, LLC, only; and (e) negligent retention and/or supervision as to Berger Singerman, LLP, only.
PARTIES
20. The first-named Plaintiff, Lindsey Crits, is an adult citizen of the state of Pennsylvania.
21. The second-named Plaintiff, Evan Wendt, for the purpose of this litigation, was an adult citizen of the state of New York (who now resides in Connecticut).
22. The third-named Plaintiff, Elizabeth Ripoli, is an adult citizen of the state of Illinois.
23. The fourth-named Plaintiff, Jennifer Coley (formerly Jennifer Ackerman), for the purpose of this litigation, was an adult citizen of the state of California (who now resides in Illinois).
24. First-named Defendant, GM [12 The “GM” in GM Law Firm stands for Grant and Mason.] Law Firm, LLC, is a Florida limited liability company that has its agents, Resolvly and NLSS, enroll consumers into its, NLSS’, and JG Factor’s “debt elimination program” through nationwide telemarketing sales calls. This law firm is owned and operated by Florida attorney, Chantel L. Grant – although its activities are effectively controlled by Gregory Fishman (with the active advising of Benjamin Zuckerman of the Berger Singerman law firm) and Julie Queler. Chantel Grant is the registered agent of GM Law Firm, LLC. Its principal place of business is: 1515 South Federal Highway, Suite 105, Boca Raton, Florida 33432. GM Law Firm, LLC, was formed in August 2016 as a name and entity conversion from the prior entity, Kevin Mason, P.A., which was the program law firm immediately prior to GM Law Firm, but after the first program law firm, Stuart Goldberg, P.A.
25. Second-named Defendant, Chantel L. Grant, is a Florida resident and member of the Florida Bar. Chantel Grant is not licensed to practice law in the states of Pennsylvania, New York, California, or Illinois, where the Plaintiffs reside. Chantel Grant worked directly for NLSS as a “consultant” before she formed GM Law Firm with Kevin Mason in August 2016. Prior to working for NLSS, Chantel Grant worked for an outfit called Paralegal Staffing Support, which was involved with Gregory Fishman, Debt Be Gone, LLC, and Otto Berges on a similar advanced-fee debt relief scam for credit card and consumer debts. Chantel Grant has been Plaintiffs’ program attorney since December 2016.
26. Third-named Defendant, National Legal Staffing Support, LLC, is a Delaware limited liability company, with its principal place of business located in the same building as the offices of the other Defendants in this action, at: 1515 South Federal Highway, Suite 113, Boca Raton, Florida 33432. NLSS, and its agents, John and Jane Doe Defendants 1-5, acted as agents and as co-conspirators and co-tortfeasors, acting in concerted action with the other Defendants, forming a RICO Enterprise, and creating the basis for joint and several liability on the part of all Defendants in this litigation. NLSS works with Resolvly to enroll consumers, like Plaintiffs, into the Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program” on the sales side of this Enterprise, and then NLSS services the client accounts, on behalf of its principal, GM Law Firm, as a part of the mandatory outsourcing agreement between the program law firm and NLSS. Further, NLSS receives all client payments from the Enterprise’s payment process, Reliant Account Management, and then pays, through the Enterprise’s CPA, Michelle Shulman, at the Daskal Bolton accounting firm in Boca Raton, the respective parties to the Enterprise – Resolvly ($1,250 referral fee), JG Factor (assignment of client’s account receivable interest at 85-90 cents on the dollar), NLSS (outsourcing fees at $45-$65 per hour billed), and Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm (whatever is left, if anything) – their respective cuts of these client fees.
27. Fourth-named Defendant, Gregory Fishman is a Florida citizen. Gregory Fishman, upon information and belief, is the leader of the RICO Enterprise described in this Complaint. Gregory Fishman is a veteran of up-front- fee debt relief scams, going back, in particular, to a similar “credit card debt elimination program” – Debt Be Gone, LLC/Berges Law Group. Chantel Grant and Julie Queler also worked with Gregory Fishman on Debt Be Gone up until 2015, when it closed its doors following litigation.
28. Fifth-named Defendant, Julie Queler, is a Florida citizen. Julie Queler, upon information and belief, is a primary investor, and business partner, to Gregory Fishman in this RICO Enterprise. Julie Queler is involved in the day-to- day management of this Enterprise. Upon information and belief, Julie Queler is the 52.5% owner of NLSS, the 52.5% owner of Resolvly, the 52.5% owner of Backend Resolve, and is the 50% owner of JG Factor.
29. Sixth-named Defendant, Kevin P. Mason, is a Florida attorney and a founding member of GM Law Firm. Kevin Mason is not licensed to practice law in the states of Pennsylvania, New York, California, or Illinois, where the Plaintiffs reside. Kevin Mason was the second attorney marketing front for the Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program”. By December 31, 2016, Kevin Mason withdrew his participation from the Defendants’ program and, without the knowledge of prior consent of the Plaintiffs, ceased being their attorney.
30. Seventh-named Defendant, Resolvly, LLC (“Resolvly”), is a Florida limited liability company, with its principal place of business located in the same building as NLSS, GM Law Firm, the former Kevin Mason, P.A., Backend Resolve, and JG Factor, all at: 1515 South Federal Highway, Boca Raton, Florida 33432. Resolvly, and its agents, John and Jane Doe Defendants 1-5, act as agents and as a co-conspirators and co-tortfeasors, acting in concerted action with the other Defendants, forming a RICO Enterprise, and creating the basis for joint and several liability on the part of all Defendants in this litigation. Resolvly effectively launders out-of-state obtained client leads, like Plaintiffs – these being client leads that Resolvly purchases from non-Florida Bar registered and approved lawyer referral services, like Crown Media Co., LLC, but then repackages and resells to the student loan debt elimination Enterprise at issue in this dispute, with Resolvly earning a $1,250 “referral fee” paid first, before JG Factor, NLSS, or GM Law Firm receive any cut of the clients’ fees. Resolvly has its agents, like Crown Media, initiate the telemarketing calls to the sales leads, like Plaintiffs. Crown Media then transfers the sales leads that seem like good sales prospects, like Plaintiffs, to the call center of Resolvly, whose employees, along with NLSS employees and “closers”, John Sabia and Joe Devito, close the “enrollment” of these sales leads as new clients of the “law firm’s” [13 All salespeople, legal assistants, paralegals, and other staff acting on behalf of this Enterprise, whether with Resolvly, NLSS, Crown Media, or other presently unidentified business entities always identify themselves as being “with the law firm” or “from the law firm”.] debt elimination “program”.
31. Eighth-named Defendant, Backend Resolve, LLC, (“Backend Resolve”), is a Delaware limited liability company, registered to conduct business in Florida, with its principal place of business located in the same building as NLSS, GM Law Firm, the former Kevin Mason, P.A., Resolvly, and JG Factor, all at: 1515 South Federal Highway, Boca Raton, Florida 33432. Backend Resolve is a holding and/or management company that, itself, owns the corporate interests of Resolvly, LLC, National Legal Staffing Support, LLC, and JG Factor, LLC. Backend Resolve is the master LLC in the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ web of companies that form their student loan debt elimination “program” enterprise. Backend Resolve, upon information and belief, is owned by other shell limited liability companies of Gregory Fishman, Julie Queler, and John Sabia. Backend Resolve and its agents, which include Resolvly and NLSS, and John and Jane Doe Defendants 1-5, act as co-conspirators and co-tortfeasors, acting in concert with the other non-Berger Singerman Defendants, forming a RICO Enterprise, and creating the basis for joint and several liability on the part of all Defendants in this litigation.
32. Ninth-named Defendant, JG Factor, LLC, is a Florida limited liability company owned by Julie Queler and Gregory Fishman, or by other businesses entities owned and controlled by Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, with its principal place of business as the same office suite as NLSS (1515 S. Federal Highway, Suite 113, Boca Raton, FL 33432). JG Factor’s registered agent is URS Agents, LLC, 3458 Lakeshore Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32312. Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler use JG Factor as the vehicle to obtain 85%-90% of the total client “attorney fees” payments received by the Enterprise, through the mandatory factoring agreements that the program law firms must execute to be the program law firms.
33. Tenth-named Defendant, P. Benjamin Zuckerman, is a Florida attorney and a partner at the Boca Raton office of Berger Singerman, LLP. Benjamin Zuckerman has been counsel to the advance-fee debt elimination businesses of Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, like Debt Be Gone, LLC, going back at least one decade. Benjamin Zuckerman is the architect and mastermind of the student loan debt resolution program at issue in this lawsuit. Benjamin Zuckerman: (1) devised, designed, and formed the closed circuit of business entities involved in this case (NLSS, Resolvly, Backend Resolve, JG Factor, Stuart Goldberg, P.A., GM Law Firm), for the specific and intended purpose of assisting Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, and their companies’ scheme to evade the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rules, and those Rules’ prohibition on the collection of advance fees from businesses performing debt relief services prior to the elimination or settlement of the consumers’ enrolled debts and to evade the Florida Bar’s rules on the generation of leads from entities not registered with the Florida Bar as lawyer referral organizations; (2) drafted the illegal and unethical Legal Services Agreement that the program attorneys, including Kevin Mason and Chantel Grant, and their law firm, GM Law Firm, have their agents at NLSS and Resolvly use to close the sale of the program, and bind the clients to these massive program payments, as occurred with Plaintiffs in this case; (3) devised, designed, and formed JG Factor, LLC, as a means to siphon 85%-90% of the so-called “attorney’s fees” [14 The false labelling of these client fees, paid directly to NLSS, and not to any law firm, as “attorney’s fees” is central to the Benjamin Zuckerman-devised scheme of this Enterprise to circumvent the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rules. The Rules prohibit advance-fees paid to debt relief companies who telemarketed their services, like NLSS.] paid by clients, like the Plaintiffs, to non-attomeys, Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, as a means to circumvent the Florida Bar prohibition on non-attomeys owning law firms or earning portions of attorney’s fees; (4) devised, designed, and created the details of how client payments, like those from Plaintiffs, flow to the respective members of this Enterprise (National Legal Staffing Support; Resolvly; Backend Resolvle; Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm; JG Factor) after the ACH are processed on behalf of NLSS; and (5) fired Stuart Goldberg as the program attorney, and from his (Goldberg’s) own law firm of Stuart Goldberg, P.A., in October 2015 and plugged in his former associate, Kevin Mason, as the new, and favored, program attorney.
34. Eleventh-named Defendant, Berger Singerman, LLP, is a Florida business law firm. Berger Singerman may be served via its Chairman, Mitchell Berger, Esq., or any other officer who may accept service for that partnership. Berger Singerman failed to reasonably supervise its partner, Benjamin Zuckerman, as it relates to Benjamin Zuckerman’s substantial involvement with the other Defendants in this action, and their illegal, advance fee, student loan debt elimination “program.” Benjamin Zuckerman, as an agent of Berger Singerman, has crossed the line, repeatedly, of lawful, and ethical, representation of his clients, Gregory Fishman, Julie Queler, Resolvly, LLC, National Legal Staffing Support, JG Factor, Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm – and the entire RICO Enterprise, itself. Benjamin Zuckerman, an agent of the Berger Singerman law firm at all relevant times, actively assisted this RICO Enterprise, for a profit, and beyond the scope of his engagement, by providing the business-law and other legal services required for this RICO Enterprise to continue to operate, gin profits, and avoid civil and criminal liability. Benjamin Zuckerman’s relationship to Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler goes back, at least, to the prior Fishman and Queler illegal “credit repair” RICO Enterprise of Debt Be Gone, LLC, for which Benjamin Zuckerman served as registered agent, along with its general counsel. Further, Benjamin Zukerman provided valuable business referrals to third-parties, like RAM, the ACH payment processor for this Enterprise, to enable the illegal profits from this RICO Enterprise to flow. A central thesis of this Complaint is that Benjamin Zuckerman, as an agent of the Berger Singerman law firm, actively participated – and still participates – in this RICO Enterprise by providing legal advice aimed at furthering the knowingly illegal activities of the RICO Enterprise. Gregory Fishman, as will be proven through discovery in this matter, would openly brag to his employees at NLSS, Resolvly, and GM Law Firm, that he was not worried about getting sued by ripped-off clients, or anyone else for that matter, because he has “the Perry Mason” (referring to Benjamin Zuckerman) of attorneys working for him. Berger Singerman, LLP, is vicariously liable for all intentional and negligent acts of Partner, Benjamin Zuckerman, via its failures to reasonably supervise the business activities of Benjamin Zuckerman as it related to the student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this action
35. John and Jane Doe Defendants 1-5 (and/or XYZ Business Entity Defendants 1 -5) are presently unidentified persons or companies who have participated in, or have profited from, the student loan debt elimination scheme at issue in this lawsuit, but whose identities are reasonably expected to be revealed during discovery in this litigation.
FACTS
The telemarketing of Lindsey Crits; and facts relevant to her claims against the non-Berger Singerman Defendants.
40. On or about mid to late September 2015, Lindsey Crits received a telemarketing telephone call from an agent of “the law firm”, Kevin Mason, P.A. (now operating as GM Law Firm), and attorney, Kevin P. Mason.
41. Resolvly and NLSS, or an agent acting on their behalf, initiated this September 2015 telemarketing sales call to Lindsey Crits.
42. During this call, the telemarketing sales agent of Resolvly, Backend Resolve, and NLSS, or one of their agents, whose identity is currently unknown, described the represented terms of the purported “student loan debt elimination program” that is at issue in this lawsuit to Lindsey Crits.
43. Lindsey Crits reasonably relied on the oral representations from the Resolvly/NLSS sales agent that took place in September 2015 to enter into the written legal services agreement with then program law firm, Kevin Mason, P.A. (now GM Law Firm), and attorney, Kevin Mason.
44. Lindsey Crits executed her Legal Services Agreement with Kevin Mason, P.A. on September 28, 2015.
45. Lindsey Crits’ decision to enter into the “law firm’s” debt elimination program on September 28, 2015, was made in reasonable reliance on the front-end representations and promises made by the NLSS/Resolvly/Backend Resolve sales staff to her about their program leading to complete “debt elimination” for the clients, following the completion of the clients’ program payments of 50% of their total student loan balance.
46. The terms of the (then) “Kevin Mason Settlement Program” that were represented to Lindsey Crits, orally, during the telemarketing telephone call that NLSS, Resolvly, and Backend Resolve made to her in September 2015, are contained in both the “Program Overview” materials and the “Welcome to the Program” materials, which are incorporated, by reference, into this Complaint.
47. A copy of the “Program Overview” marketing materials – which also function as a telemarketing sales script for this Enterprise – provided by Resolvly, Backend Resolve, and NLSS (under the direction of Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler) to Lindsey Crits (by reading them, orally, during the telemarketing sales pitches in September 2015) is attached to, and incorporated into, this Complaint as Exhibit “1”.
48. Lindsey Crits, like all Plaintiffs, distinctly remembers the Resolvly, Backend Resolve, and NLSS sales agents, who claim to be from “the law firm” on this September 2015 sales cold-call to her, making the exact promise of complete elimination of Lindsey Crits’ entire private student loan debt in exchange for her paying 50% of her total loan balance, paid over 62 monthly-installments, to “the law firm”. Illustrative examples of these promises are contained in Ex. 1 to this Complaint.
49. Lindsey Crits, by joining the Defendants’ “program” and making their “program” payments, relied on these false promises of Resolvly, Backend Resolve, and NLSS (as directed by Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler), and their sales agents, in her decision to emoll in the Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program” on September 28, 2015.
50. The “law firm,” as these September 2015 misrepresentations went, would charge Lindsey Crits 50% of her total student loan balance, or $45,800, with this program fee being paid over 62 equal monthly payments of $738.71 drawn from her bank account by automated clearing house. Most importantly, the NLSS, Backend Resolve, and Resolvly sales staff misrepresented that Lindsey Crits’ entire private student loan balance would be completely eliminated as a legal liability, following his successful completion of her 62 months of program payments.
51. Page 18 of this “Program Overview”, Ex. 1, contains irrefutable examples of the fraudulent misrepresentations made during telemarketing calls to prospective clients of this racket, like Lindsey Crits, in order to induce them to agree to the monthly, illegal, advanced-fee, “debt resolution” payments. Page 18 of the standard Kevin Mason/NLSS Welcome Packet states:
“The costs of the service are a fixed flat fee that your attorney has allowed you to make monthly installment payments. In order to do this, your attorney utilizes a payment processing company called National Legal Staffing Support. This is the name that will show up on your monthly bank statement. This fee is all that you will have to pay.
Nothing more, nothing less.
You can expect to be debt free with 39 to 48 months from your first payment. It could be less, but not longer. The reason being is that the litigation process may take shorter because in many cases the banks and their debt collectors settle within the first 12 months of the lawsuit. This is a good thing.”
See Ex. 1, at Page (Slide) 18 (emphasis added).
52. Although they likely regret it now, Resolvly, Backend Resolve, and NLSS put their telemarketing sales script, represented to and relied upon by Lindsey Crits, in writing when they created their “Program Overview”, Ex. 1.
53. Lindsey Crits does not have the telephone calls recorded, but the exact terms of the specific promises contained on Page 18 of Ex. 1 were made by the Resolvly, Backend Resolve, and NLSS salespersons on all telemarketing calls to her. These marketing calls induced Lindsey Crits to sign up for “the law firm’s” “student loan debt elimination program,” because it seemed like a no-brainer to enroll in a program that had the legitimacy of attorney involvement and oversight, and that also guaranteed to have Lindsey Crits’ entire student loan balance ($91,600.00 at the time of enrollment) “eliminated” for 50 cents on the dollar over 62 months.
54. Moreover, it was told, during the telemarketing sales calls on the front-end in September 2015, consistent with Page 18 of Ex. 1, that NLSS was the “payment processor” for the “the law firm”.
55. The truth, it turns out, is that Reliant Account Management, a California-based company, is the payment processors for this so-called “program;” NLSS actually functions as the “law firm,” staying in contact with the clients (although feeding the clients lies, in order to keep the monthly payments flowing); and the “attorneys” Kevin Mason and later, Chantel Grant are phantoms insofar as they do not directly communicate with their clients outside of rare occasions (like when litigation gets threatened, and only after jumping through many hoops to get such a call scheduled).
56. It should be no surprise that clients, like Lindsey Crits, rarely if ever get the opportunity to speak to their program attorney. The Enterprise has thousands of clients, spread all across the United States (likely in all 50 states), with only the attorney marketing front, e.g., Kevin Mason and/or Chantel Grant, to act as the attorney for these thousands of “program” clients.
57. Further, the overwhelming bulk of the so-called “attorney’s fees” do not go to the program attorney or his or her law firm. 85%-90% of the client fees flow to non-attomeys, Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, through JG Factor and Backend Resolve. An additional $1,250 per client-enrolled flows to Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler through their company, Resolvly, as a referral fee. And then the profits from the mandatory outsourcing of client-servicing from GM Law Firm to NLSS nets Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler the profits of NLSS’ $45- $65 per hour fees. The program law firm retains the pittance of fees that are left, if any, after Gregory Fishman’s and Julie Queler’s closed circuit of companies, NLSS, Resolvly, and JG Factor, devour these massive so-called “attorney’s fees”.
58. Furthermore, the Kevin Mason “Welcome to the Program” materials/sales script, orally represented to Lindsey Crits by the Resolvly, Backend Resolve, and NLSS sales staff, is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit “2”.
59. According to the “Welcome to the Program” materials/script: “The Law Office of Kevin P. Mason P.A. IS A BOUTIQUE MULTI- JURISDICTIONAL LAW FIRM BASED IN SOUTH FLORIDA. OUR PRACTICE IS FOCUSED ON CONSUMER RIGHTS IN STATE AND FEDERAL COURT, AS WELL AS IN ARBITRATION MATTERS. OUR PRACTICE ENCOMPASSES DEFENDING OUR CLIENTS’ RIGHTS AGAINST ABUSIVE AND ILLEGAL PRACTICES BY DEBT COLLECTORS, CREDITORS, AND CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES. THE STAFF AT The Law Office Of Kevin P. Mason P.A. HAS MANY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE REPRESENTING PEOPLE LIKE YOU, THE AMERICAN CONSUMER, WHO IS FACING A VARIETY OF LEGAL ISSUES. OUR NETWORK OF ATTORNEYS AND PROFESSIONAL STAFF WILL PROVIDE EXPERT GUIDANCE AND REPRESENTATION. WE HAVE DEDICATED OUR CAREERS TO STANDING UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS. WE WILL ENSURE THAT THE BEST POSSIBLE OUTCOME IN YOUR LEGAL MATTER IS ACHIEVED.” Ex. 2, “Welcome to the Program” materials/script, at Page 3.
60. A copy of Lindsey Crits’ September 28, 2015, Legal Services Agreement with Defendants, Kevin Mason and Kevin Mason, P.A. (now being managed by Chantel Grant, and operating as GM Law Firm), is attached to, and incorporated into, this Complaint as Exhibit “3.” All Plaintiffs have identical legal services agreements to Ex 3, in both form and substance, with the only differences being the amount of the monthly payments and the effective dates of these agreements.
61. NLSS, via advanced-fee ACH payments processed by Reliant Account Management (RAM), drafted all 62 program payments from Lindsey Crits, as agreed, for a total of $45,800.00. Despite Lindsey Crits making all program payments, the Defendants have not provided her with any debt elimination or legal services of any value whatsoever. As a matter of fact, the Defendants’ “program” has caused Lindsey Crits to be sued in Pennsylvania state court for her unpaid private student loans, to accrue an additional late fees, default fees, and interest being added to her accelerated student loan balance.
62. On September 30, 2019, SoFi Lending Corporation sued Lindsey Crits in Pennsylvania state court, in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, for her unpaid private student loan – the loan “enrolled” into the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ student loan debt “elimination” program. This pending state court collection suit is Case No. 2019-23220. Lindsey Crits is being sued for $93,275.65, plus all other costs and fees permitted by the Court.
63. The Defendants, collectively, are masters at building trust in the client of this “program;” trust that is abused to steal the illegal [15 The Federal Trade Commission bans upfront fees on debt relief among other violations committed by Defendants, (see 16 CFR 310.1-10).], advanced-fee, monthly “program” payments from their client. For instance, one of the NLSS’ methods at building, and maintaining, the trust of their clients on behalf of this collective Enterprise was bi-weekly telephone calls with “paralegals” and “legal assistants” from “the law firm”, where these NLSS employees, acting on behalf of the collective Enterprise, would string along clients, like the Plaintiffs in this case, with puffery such as: “everything is going great on your account”; “these things take time: it’s a lot of hurry up and wait”; “and this is just how the process works.”
64. Further, the non-Berger Singerman Defendants even created a client newsletter, the GM Law Firm Newsletter, that they sent to the program’s clients, including Plaintiffs, in April 2018 to continue to maintain their trust (and keep the monthly ACH payments flowing to the Defendants). A copy of this April 2018 Program Newsletter sent to all program clients is attached to, and incorporated into, this Complaint as Exhibit “4”. It is unfortunate, however, that GM Law Firm focused more on providing recipes and movie reviews in its newsletter than it did fulfilling its sales agents’ promises to clients of total elimination of their student loan debt.
65. Lindsey Crits grew suspicious of the Defendants’ program in late 2019, after she was sued by SoFi but could not get answers to her satisfaction about the purported progress being made on the resolution of her enrolled student loan balance. Lindsey Crits did not understand why, after she had completed her program payments, the promise of debt elimination had not been performed on her behalf. Instead, Lindsey Crits is being sued for $93,275.65, plus all other costs and fees permitted by the Court.
66. To be clear: Lindsey Crits made her program payments, and her enrolled private student loan debt has not been eliminated, resolved, or dismissed, as promised to her by Resolvly/Backend Resolve/NLSS in late September 2015.
67. Further, this financial loss, and resulting state court collection litigation, has caused Lindsey Crits a cascade of consequential financial, hedonic, and psychological harm to be described to the jury at trial.
The telemarketing of Evan Wendt; and facts relevant to his claims against the non-Berger Singerman Defendants.
68. Evan Wendt incorporates, by reference, the facts and exhibits contained in the paragraphs, above, as they pertain to the operation of the student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this lawsuit. Evan Wendt supplements his individual claims with the following information:
69. Evan Wendt has suffered severe financial, and hedonic, harm from a nearly identical fact-pattern as first-named Plaintiff, Lindsey Crits, at the hands of the Defendants’, and their agents’ wrongful conduct, as pleaded in this Complaint.
70. Evan Wendt, upon information and belief, like the other Plaintiffs in this lawsuit, had his personal financial information deceptively solicited by Defendant, Resolvly, via its laundering of client leads from non-Florida Bar registered entities, like a company that has been referred to as “Crown Media”, but who is presently unidentifiable to Plaintiffs.
71. Evan Wendt began receiving telemarketing phone calls from persons claiming to be with “the Kevin Mason law firm”, but who really were sales staff of NLSS, Resolvly, and Backend Resolve, working on behalf of the Enterprise, in general, on or about March 2016.
72. The same identical Kevin Mason/Kevin Mason, P.A. (now operating as GM Law Firm, LLC, with Chantel Grant as its attorney-marketing-front) /NLSS/ Resolvly/ Backend Resolve sales pitch, made by salespeople believed to be employed by NLSS/Resolvly/Backend Resolve/Gregory Fishman/Julie Queler, was made to Evan Wendt in March 2016.
73. This sales pitch, specifically, was: that for the payment of 50% of the principal balance of his total student loan debts, paid over five years in equal monthly installments, that “the law firm” would have Evan Wendt’s entire student loan balance eliminated with his creditors through their “program”.
74. A Narrative Synopsis, written by Evan Wendt, explaining the facts underlying his claims in this matter is attached to, and incorporated into, this Complaint as Exhibit “5”.
75. According to Evan Wendt’s Narrative Synopsis, Ex. 5, Page 1: “In March of 2016 I received a phone call on my cell phone from a person who gave the name Joe DeVito. He advised me that he could look at my student loans and possibly help me challenge amounts improperly loaned to me and have my student loan debt cut in half, possibly even eliminated. He stated that they would look at the school’s financial aid practices as it relates to informing students about financing their education to see if they used illegal or fraudulent practices when recommending loan products, and whether they properly informed students of what their loan debt and repayment would be following graduation. It was my understanding that Joe Devito was calling on behalf of a law firm that would look into the private student loans to see if the lenders used predatory loan practices and whether money was lent knowing it would be impossible for the borrower to repay. He stated that the law firm was successful in getting the loans reduced or even resolved. He also stated that the general process could take up to 36 months to resolve the loans. Following this conversation, we exchanged information by email and I signed several documents. One document was a contract for me to pay Kevin Mason, Esq. and his law firm to assist me in student loan debt negotiations. My understanding was that the payments were a retainer for the law firm to negotiate a settlement with the lender(s) to lower the amount I owed on my private student loans, or to have them completely discharged. The payments to the law firm were to be made for a period of five years and totaled [sic] $35,079.50, which is exactly half of the amount owed at that time on my private student loans.”
76. Evan Wendt entered into his contract for legal services with Kevin Mason, P.A., identical in form and substance to Ex. 3 to this Complaint, on March 23,2016.
77. Suddenly, without notice, and without any explanation – and identical to all other Plaintiffs – agents at NLSS, working on behalf of “the law firm”, required Evan Wendt to complete a new Limited Power of Attorney Agreement with GM Law Firm, who has never previously been in the picture of this “program”.
78. The non-Berger Singerman Defendants, all of them, acting in concert, took monthly auto draft payments of $487.22 from Evan Wendt, from March 2016 through October 2018.
79. In October 2018, Evan Wendt placed a stop-payment order on these auto drafts, as a result of his shock and dismay after realizing that, although he had been sued, and served with a summons, by his student loan creditor in the New York state court in an action that has since been settled under extreme financial duress.
80. A copy of the summons from the state court collection lawsuit that has been filed against Evan Wendt, despite his representation in the so-called “student loan debt resolution program” at issue in this lawsuit, is attached to, and incorporated into, this Complaint as Exhibit “6”.
81. It is unconscionable that Evan Wendt was sued in state court while being represented by the non-Berger Singerman Defendants in this student loan debt elimination “program”.
82. It is additionally mortifying that, prior to Evan Wendt settling his collection lawsuit himself, the Defendants hired New York counsel for Evan Wendt without his knowledge. This New York attorney, Glen Kurtis, hired by the non-Berger Singerman Defendants, filed pleadings, and otherwise represented Evan Wendt in the New York state court collection lawsuit, without ever speaking to Evan Wendt.
83. Further, this financial loss, including being sued and having his credit ruined, has caused Evan Wendt a cascade of consequential financial, hedonic, and psychological harm to be described to the jury at trial.
The telemarketing of Elizabeth Ripoli; and facts relevant to her claims against the non-Berger Singerman Defendants.
84. Elizabeth Ripoli incorporates, by reference, the facts and exhibits contained in the paragraphs, above, as they pertain to the operation of the student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this lawsuit. Elizabeth Ripoli supplements her individual claims with the following information:
85. Elizabeth Ripoli has suffered severe financial, and hedonic, harm from a nearly identical fact-pattern as first-named Plaintiff, Lindsey Crits, at the hands of the Defendants’, and their agents’ wrongful conduct, as pleaded in this Complaint.
86. Elizabeth Ripoli, upon information and belief, like the other Plaintiffs in this lawsuit, had her personal financial information deceptively solicited by Defendant, Resolvly, via its laundering of client leads from non-Florida Bar registered entities, like a company that has been referred to as “Crown Media”, but who is presently unidentifiable to Plaintiffs.
87. Elizabeth Ripoli began receiving telemarketing phone calls from persons claiming to be with “the Kevin Mason law firm”, but who really were sales staff of NLSS, Resolvly, and Backend Resolve, working on behalf of the Enterprise, in general, in mid to late September 2015.
88. The same identical Kevin Mason/Kevin Mason, P.A. (now operating as GM Law Firm, LLC, with Chantel Grant as its attomey-marketing- ffont)/NLSS/Resolvly/ Backend Resolve sales pitch, made by salespeople believed to be employed by NLSS/Resolvly/Backend Resolve/Gregory Fishman/Julie Queler, was made to Elizabeth Ripoli in September 2015.
89. This sales pitch, specifically, was: that for the payment of 50% of the principal balance of his total student loan debts, paid over five years in equal monthly installments, that “the law firm” would have Elizabeth Ripoli’s entire student loan balance eliminated with her creditors through their “program”.
90. Elizabeth Ripoli entered into her contract for legal services with Kevin Mason, P.A., identical in form and substance to Ex. 3 to this Complaint, on September 24, 2015.
91. Suddenly, without notice, and without any explanation – and identical to all other Plaintiffs – agents at NLSS, working on behalf of “the law firm”, required Elizabeth Ripoli to complete a new Limited Power of Attorney Agreement with GM Law Firm, who has never previously been in the picture of this “program”.
92. The non-Berger Singerman Defendants, all of them, acting in concert, took illegal monthly auto draft payments of $417.83 from Elizabeth Ripoli, from September 2015 through November 2018.
93. In December 2018, Elizabeth Ripoli placed a stop-payment order on these auto drafts, as a result of her becoming suspicious of the non-Berger Singerman’s program and its promises.
94. Further, the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ program has caused Elizabeth Ripoli a cascade of consequential financial, hedonic, and psychological harm to be described to the jury at trial.
The telemarketing of Jennifer Coley; and facts relevant to her claims against the non-Berger Singerman Defendants.
95. Jennifer Coley (formerly Ackerman) incorporates, by reference, the facts and exhibits contained in the paragraphs, above, as they pertain to the operation of the student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this lawsuit. Jennifer Coley supplements her individual claims with the following information:
96. Jennifer Coley has suffered severe financial, and hedonic, harm from a nearly identical fact-pattern as first-named Plaintiff, Lindsey Crits, at the hands of the Defendants’, and their agents’ wrongful conduct, as pleaded in this Complaint.
97. Jennifer Coley, upon information and belief, like the other Plaintiffs in this lawsuit, had her personal financial information deceptively solicited by Defendant, Resolvly, via its laundering of client leads from non-Florida Bar registered entities, like a company that has been referred to as “Crown Media”, but who is presently unidentifiable to Plaintiffs.
98. Jennifer Coley began receiving telemarketing phone calls from persons claiming to be with “the Kevin Mason law firm”, but who really were sales staff of NLSS, Resolvly, and Backend Resolve, working on behalf of the Enterprise, in general, in April 2015.
99. The same identical Kevin Mason/Kevin Mason, P.A. (now operating as GM Law Firm, LLC, with Chantel Grant as its attorney-marketing- front)/NLSS/Resolvly/ Backend Resolve sales pitch, made by salespeople believed to be employed by NLSS/Resolvly/Backend Resolve/Gregory Fishman/Julie Queler, was made to Jennifer Coley in April 2015.
100. This sales pitch, specifically, was: that for the payment of 50% of the principal balance of his total student loan debts, paid over five years in equal monthly installments, that “the law firm” would have Jennifer Coley’s entire student loan balance eliminated with her creditors through their “program”.
101. Jennifer Coley entered into her contract for legal services with Kevin Mason, P.A., identical in form and substance to Ex. 3 to this Complaint, on April 17,2015.
102. Suddenly, without notice, and without any explanation – and identical to all other Plaintiffs – agents at NLSS, working on behalf of “the law firm”, required Jennifer Coley to complete a new Limited Power of Attorney Agreement with GM Law Firm, who has never previously been in the picture of this “program”.
103. The non-Berger Singerman Defendants, all of them, acting in concert, took illegal monthly auto draft payments of $411.52 from Jennifer Coley, from April 2015 through November 2018.
104. In December 2018, Jennifer Coley placed a stop-payment order on these auto drafts, due to her becoming suspicious of the non-Berger Singerman’s program and its promises.
105. Further, the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ program has caused Jennifer Coley a cascade of consequential [16 Including Jennifer Coley’s co-signor grandmother being sued in Illinois state court for the default of Jennifer Coley’s private student loans that were “enrolled” in the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ “program”.], financial, hedonic, and psychological harm to be described to the jury at trial.
Benjamin Zuckerman, of the Berger Singerman law firm, and facts relevant to his knowing and material role as the designing architect of the non-Berger Singerman Defendants ’ illegal, advanced-fee, student loan debt elimination “program.”
106. Berger Singerman partner, Benjamin Zuckerman – while acting in his capacity as a partner of Berger Singerman, but beyond the scope of his firm’s agreed upon representation of his clients, Julie Queler and Gregory Fishman – designed and actively participated in the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this action.
107. Benjamin Zuckerman and Berger Singerman’s representation of Gregory Fishman goes back to Gregory Fishman’s, and his former shell companies’, involvement in the Jeremy Marcus/Otto Berges/Debt Be Gone advance fee consumer debt elimination and credit repair telemarketing operation that predated the creation of the advance fee student loan elimination “program” at issue in this lawsuit. The activities of Gregory Fishman and Debt Be Gone date back, at a minimum, to 2013. [17 See [DktNo. 1] Verified Complaint, Sidoni, et al. v. Marcus, et al., Cause No. 0:17-cv-60148- WPD (S.D. Fla.), at Paragraphs 66-70. “In 2013, Mr. Windell was searching the internet, looking for ways to deal with his debt. Several days later, Mr. Windell was contacted by Defendant Fishman on behalf of Defendant Debt Be Gone via email, and Mr. Windell called Defendant Fishman. Defendant Fishman stated that they were a debt elimination company, and that they could help him dismiss his debt and fix his credit. Defendants Fishman and Debt Be Gone induced him to sign a contract with Defendants Berges and Berges Law Group.”]
108. Even after being put on actual notice through multiple prior federal lawsuits, dating back to at least 2017 [18 See Castellanos, et al. v. National Legal Staffing Support, LLC, et al., Case No. l:17-cv- 00136-TLS-SLC (N.D. Ind.); See also Lamey v. Navient Solutions, LLC, et al., Case No. 3:17- cv-341-DPJ-FKB. See also emails attached to [22] Julie Queler’s Pre-Answer Motion, with Benjamin Zuckerman (bzuckerman@bergersingerman.com) listed as a recipient from White, et al. v. GM Law Firm, LLC, et al., Cause No. 9:21-cv-80896-AHS (Matthewman). ], and the fall-out from Debt Be Gone LLC, [19 See Bennet v. Berges, et al., Case No. 14-cv-509 (E.D. Wise.); See also Bryson v. Berges, et al., Case No. 14-62323-CIV-COHN/SELTZER (S.D. Fla.); See also Public Information from the Florida Sec. of State for Debt Be Gone, LLC, listing Benjamin Zuckerman of Berger Singerman as the Registered Agent for this entity. This Florida Sec. of State information is attached to, and incorporated into, this Complaint as Exhibit “7”.] dating back to at least 2014, Berger Singerman LLP failed to take any corrective measures, such as investigation, termination of the business relationship(s), and/or termination of Partner Benjamin Zuckerman. By failing to take these necessary actions, it was reasonably foreseeable to Berger Singerman that this conduct of its partner, Benjamin Zuckerman, could and would injure future victims of the enterprise such as the Plaintiffs.
109. The January 2015 Berger Singerman engagement letter that applies to Berger Singerman’s representation, and that should have applied to Benjamin Zuckerman’s legal representation, strictly limited the scope of Berger Singerman and Benjamin Zuckerman’s representation of their clients, Julie Queler and Gregory Fishman, individually, to the formation of Resolvly, LLC, and Backend Resolvly, LLC, only, and to preparing operating agreements for these two limited liability companies, only.
110. The January 2015 Berger Singerman engagement letter does not list National Legal Staffing Support, LLC, JG Factor, LLC, nor does it list creating the architecture and client documents to be used in the underlying student loan debt elimination “program”. Nor does this engagement letter include providing on-site training to program staff and managerial consulting to the underlying student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this action. Nor does it include firing Stuart Goldberg from his own law firm and reallocating what were purportedly Stuart Goldberg’s clients to Kevin Mason, before these clients were reallocated to Chantel Grant.
111. The applicable January 2015 Berger Singerman engagement letter also contains a provision that requires delivery of the executed engagement letter, along with the payment of the initial client retainer, to be made directly to the Chief Operating Officer of the Berger Singerman law firm, Jessica Hollander. This speaks to the corporate knowledge, and notice, to Berger Singerman that Benjamin Zuckerman’s scope of work, and billing, vastly exceeded the scope of representation contained in the engagement letter with Julie Queler and Gregory Fishman. And this directly relates to, and supports, the Plaintiffs’ negligent supervision and/or retention claims against Berger Singerman in this action. 112. Beyond the scope of his firm’s engagement, Benjamin Zuckerman designed the financial framework for how clients’ program payments are divided, and distributed, among the members of the Enterprise.
113. Specifically, Benjamin Zuckerman designed and formed the closed circuit of companies owned by Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler – Resolvly, NLSS, JG Factor – that allow these non-attomeys to reap over 90% of the illegal so-called “attorney’s fees” from the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ advanced- fee student loan debt elimination “program.”
114. The non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this action, devised and designed by Benjamin Zuckerman during his legal practice with Berger Singerman, and described in this Complaint, is an illegal enterprise that continues to regularly commit mail fraud, telemarketing, and wire fraud.
115. The non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this action, devised and designed by Benjamin Zuckerman during his legal practice with Berger Singerman, and described in this Complaint is an illegal enterprise that continues to regularly commit violations of the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rules’ prohibitions against the collection of advance-fees for debt relief services sold via telemarketing. [20 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(a)(5)(i).]
116. The non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this action, devised and designed by Benjamin Zuckerman in the scope of his legal practice with Berger Singerman, and described in this Complaint, is an illegal enterprise that continues to regularly commit violations of the Florida Bar’s rules regarding lawyer-referral services and reasonableness of fees, [21 See Florida Rule of Professional Conduct 4-1.5(a) (“Illegal, Prohibited, or Clearly Excessive Fees and Costs. A lawyer must not enter into an agreement for, charge, or collect an illegal, prohibited, or clearly excessive fee or cost, or a fee generated by employment that was obtained through advertising or solicitation not in compliance with the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. A fee or cost is clearly excessive when: (1) after a review of the facts, a lawyer of ordinary prudence would be left with a definite and firm conviction that the fee or the cost exceeds a reasonable fee or cost for services provided to such a degree as to constitute clear overreaching or an unconscionable demand by the attorney; or (2) the fee or cost is sought or secured by the attorney by means of intentional misrepresentation or fraud upon the client, a nonclient party, or any court, as to either entitlement to, or amount of, the fee.”) (emphasis added); see also, Florida Rule of Professional Conduct 4-7.22(d) and the following Comment from Rule 4-7.22, “Additionally, a fee that constitutes an improper division of fees occurs when the qualifying provider directs, regulates, or influences the lawyer’s professional judgment in rendering legal services to the client. See e.g., Rules 4-5.4 and 4-1.7(a)(2). Examples of direction, regulation or influence include when the qualifying provider places limits on a lawyer’s representation of a client, requires or prohibits the performance of particular legal services or tasks, or requires the use of particular forms or the use of particular third party providers, whether participation with a particular qualifying provider would violate this rule requires a case-by-case determination.” (Emphasis added).] as concerns Resolvly’s laundering of client leads, purchased in bundles from other companies that are not registered as lawyer-referral organizations with the Florida Bar, like Crown Media, and the grossly excessive fees charged by GM Law Firm, but directly collected by NLSS.
117. Benjamin Zuckerman created the organizational structure of the non- Berger Singerman’s illegal, advanced-fee, student loan debt elimination “program.”
118. Benjamin Zuckerman knowingly devised and created Backend Resolve, LLC, in January 2015 to act as a secret holding and/or management company for the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ illicit profits, knowing that these Defendants needed a concealed holding company to act as a vessel into which to funnel the Enterprise’s illegal gains. The existence of Backend Resolve has been concealed by all Defendants, despite active federal court litigation that required the disclosure of this entity being ongoing since 2017.
119. Benjamin Zuckerman, in his legal practice at Berger Singerman, and on behalf of his clients, Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, drafted all relevant agreements of the non-Berger Singerman Defendants in this action: the legal services agreements that Defendants induced Plaintiffs to sign, all identical to Ex.3 to this Complaint; the referral fee agreement between the program law firm, Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm and Resolvly; the outsourcing staffing agreement between the program law firm, Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm and NLSS; the factoring agreement between the program law firm, Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm and Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler’s factoring company, JG Factor; the termination agreements with former program attorneys, Stuart Goldberg and Kevin Mason; the unknown organizational, transactional, and other agreements for Backend Resolve.
120. All these materially relevant documents in this case bear metadata showing that they are all documents drafted by Benjamin Zuckerman in his capacity as a partner at the Berger Singerman law firm.
121. To be clear, the (illegal, unethical, and unenforceable) Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm Legal Services Agreement, Ex. 3 to this Complaint, that the non-Berger Singerman Defendants, through the sales agents at Resolvly and NLSS, induced Plaintiffs to sign with their (the sales agents’) knowingly false promises of complete student loan debt elimination in July 2015, was not drafted by Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm, Kevin Mason, Stuart Goldberg, or Chantel Grant.
122. This (illegal, unethical, and unenforceable) Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm Legal Services Agreement, Ex. 3 to this Complaint, that the non-Berger Singerman Defendants, induced Plaintiffs to sign was, in truth, drafted by Benjamin Zuckerman in the course of his legal practice at Berger Singerman.
123. However, Benjamin Zuckerman did know, or he should have known, that the Legal Services Agreement that he drafted for the program law firms, like Kevin Mason P.A./GM Law Firm, to use with their clients in the student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this action, like Plaintiffs, contained unethical, illegal, and unconscionable terms.
124. Among these illegal and unethical terms contained in the Legal Services Agreement used by the program law firms, like Kevin Mason, P.A./GM Law Firm, and drafted by Benjamin Zuckerman, are: the payment of advanced fees, beginning immediately upon execution of the Legal Services Agreement, prior to the elimination or settlement of any enrolled client student loan debts, in clear violation of the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rules; and the granting of complete and absolute authority to the program law firm, and its attorney, not the client(s), to make litigation and settlement decisions about the student loan debts enrolled into the program. See Legal Services Agreement, Ex. 3 to this Complaint, at Section 2(a)(v), Prosecution of Claims.
125. On or about October 2015, Benjamin Zuckerman, who was regularly in the Defendants office at 1515 Federal Highway in Boca Raton, called the first program attorney, into an office and fired Stuart Goldberg from the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program”.
126. Amazingly, Benjamin Zuckerman, on behalf of Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, fired Stuart Goldberg from his own law firm, Stuart Goldberg, P.A., in October 2015.
127. Defendants Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler, via their attorney, Benjamin Zuckerman, fired Stuart Goldberg from his role as the original program attorney. Gregory Fishman, through Benjamin Zuckerman, replaced Stuart Goldberg as the program attorney with attorney, Kevin Mason, a former associate of Benjamin Zuckerman, on or about October 2015.
128. Gregory Fishman, Julie Queler, and Benjamin Zuckerman desired to replace Stuart Goldberg with Kevin Mason in October 2015 because Kevin Mason did not have the ethical requirements that Stuart Goldberg possessed.
129. In particular, Kevin Mason allowed NLSS and Resolvly staff, like John Sabia, to e-sign his name on client documents, without his, Kevin Mason’s, pre-clearance of those communications.
130. Kevin Mason also permitted the Resolvly, Backend Resolve, and NLSS sales staff to make very aggressive and false promises of debt elimination in order to sign up more prospective clients like the Plaintiffs in this case, on their telemarketing calls. Stuart Goldberg did not permit these representations to be made by the program sales agents at NLSS, Resolvly, and Backend Resolve when he discovered them in Fall of 2015. This disagreement was the source of major tension between Stuart Goldberg, Gregory Fishman, and Benjamin Zuckerman that ultimately led to Benjamin Zuckerman firing Stuart Goldberg in October 2015.
131. Benjamin Zuckerman also dealt with staff issues at NLSS, Resolvly, and Backend Resolve from their formation in 2015 until at least 2018, but perhaps continuing to this day.
132. Benjamin Zuckerman designed and developed the illegal fee structure for the program payments of clients, like Plaintiffs.
133. Benjamin Zuckerman designed the unlawful client referral fees, legal outsourcing fees, and factoring fees structure of the non-Berger Singerman Defendants that has created a closed circuit of related companies that enables Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler to siphon off over 90% of the so-called attorney’s fees paid by clients, like Plaintiffs, as a part of the Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program”; itself unlawful, unethical, and fraudulent.
134. Further, when Gregory Fishman and Julie Queler needed a business referral to get NLSS approved with Reliant Account Management (RAM) for the processing of program ACH drafts from client bank accounts on March 20, 2015, they used Benjamin Zuckerman, and the prestige of the Berger Singerman law firm, on their RAM application.
135. This March 20, 2015, RAM application, submitted by NLSS, is attached to, and incorporated into, this Complaint as Exhibit “8”.
136. The Berger Singerman business reference for NLSS to RAM, listing Benjamin Zuckerman as the contact for that business reference, is contained on Page 6 of Ex. 8 to this Complaint.
137. Interestingly, this NLSS ACH account application, submitted to RAM, Ex. 8 to this Complaint, lists “Magic Mike” in the “How did you hear about RAM?” line on Page 1 of Ex. 8. Magic Mike, upon information and belief, is “Magic” Mike Ferrari, of Crown Media, the lead generator whose client leads Resolvly launders as its own client leads.
138. Further, Page 1 of Ex. 8 to this Complaint also states that NLSS is enrolling new program client at the rate of “600 monthly.” This is a staggering amount of client enrollments.
139. Finally, Page 3 of Ex. 8 contains a false, but material and damning, admission about the applicability of the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rules to the business of NLSS and its connected businesses, like GM Law Firm: “Do you comply with the FTC “Debt Relief Services and Telemarketing Sales Rule?: Yes.”
140. The active involvement of Benjamin Zuckerman of the Berger Singerman law firm was vital to the creation and success of the student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this action, and detailed throughout this Complaint, subjects him, and makes Berger Singerman vicariously, and derivatively, liable to civil liability under the federal RICO Act related to the Plaintiffs’ claims in this action. This is because Berger Singerman failed to reasonably supervise the business activities of its partner, Benjamin Zuckerman, beginning in 2015, and through the current day, as it related to Benjamin Zuckerman’s substantial involvement, and design, of the non-Berger Singerman Defendants’ student loan debt elimination “program” at issue in this action.
141. Since Berger Singerman failed to reasonably supervise its partner and agent, Benjamin Zuckerman, in connection with Benjamin Zuckerman’s knowingly unlawful legal services that exceeded the scope of his firm’s representation of Julie Queler and Gregory Fishman, and that were crucial to the success of co-Defendants’ student loan advance fee Enterprise, Berger Singerman is derivatively subject to civil liability for the Plaintiffs’ damages based upon the tort of negligent supervision.
Where Does This Leave You?
I would not reach any conclusion based solely on the complaint filed. If you are a client of any of these ecompanies you should absolutely contact the companies and ask them for answers to your questions.
I’m confident the defendants in this case will deny all statements and so we will just have to wait and watch what will happen next.
