John Oliver reveals the sinister truth behind those J. G. Wentworth ads

A structured settlement generally comes after an accident or negligence, like being injured in a car crash or getting lead poisoning via a careless landlord; the “structured” part means that the money is paid out over time, instead of in a giant lump sum. But people who have found themselves in these situations can also find themselves in dire financial situations, and these factoring companies prey on that. They especially seem to prey on people who have suffered some kind of traumatic brain injury, as Oliver points out; one man was hit by a train and then had a stroke that destroyed one quarter of his brain. He was convinced to sell his $2.5 million settlement for about only $700,000. 

The defense that these factoring companies deploy is that these deals still need to be approved by a judge, but, as Oliver argues, these hearings can often run just three to seven minutes. Sometimes, when the client is in a less immediately dire situation, they have been wined and dined and convinced to hand over the money. At the end, Oliver advocates for people who have been injured and are thinking about selling their settlement to meet with a one-time guardian to discuss the sale; often, the factoring company completely backs out once they know there’s someone actually looking out for the person it’s trying to fleece. Check out the whole segment, and Last Week Tonight‘s new and more accurate J.G. Wentworth jingle, below.