MSP Recovery (MSPR) Risk Factors

There exist in various jurisdictions prohibitions or restrictions in connection with purchasing Claims from plaintiffs (known as maintenance, and a form of maintenance, called champerty), assignment of certain kinds of Claims, and/or participation in a lawyer's contingent fee interests. Such prohibitions and restrictions, to the extent they exist, are governed by the rules and regulations of each state and jurisdiction in the United States and vary in degrees of strength and enforcement in different states and federal jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions in the U.S. and other jurisdictions may not, for legal and professional ethics reasons, permit us to pursue certain recoveries, or the law and regulations in those jurisdictions may be uncertain, and accordingly we may not have the ability or the desire to pursue recoveries in these jurisdictions, thereby limiting the size of the potential market. If we, our counterparties or the lawyers handling the underlying matters, were to be found to have violated the relevant prohibitions or restrictions in connection with certain matters, there could be a materially adverse effect on the value of the affected assets, our ability to enforce the relevant contractual agreements with our counterparties, and the amounts we would be able to recover with respect to such matters, or our costs for such matters.

We file qui tam (whistleblower) actions on behalf of the federal government under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq. These actions give the federal government the opportunity to intervene and participate in the action. The False Claims Act authorizes the Attorney General to dismiss a qui tam action over the relator's objection. The action can be dismissed if the federal government determines their best interests are not served with the litigation. This can be the case if the litigation does not advance their interests, preserve their limited resources or avoid adverse precedent. The federal government may dismiss an action notwithstanding the objections of the relator if the relator has received notice from the federal government and the person is afforded an opportunity to be heard on the federal government's motion to dismiss. Courts have stated that the Federal Government has an "unfettered" right to dismiss a qui tam action. Swift v. United States, 318 F.3d 250, 252 (D.C. Cir. 2003). Federal government intervention, as well as dismissal pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 3730(c)(2)(A), can negatively affect our business and our recovery efforts.

We will be subject to federal and state income taxes in the United States and potentially in other jurisdictions. Our future effective tax rates could be subject to volatility or adversely affected by a number of factors, including: - changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities;- expected timing and amount of the release of any tax valuation allowances;- tax effects of stock-based compensation;- changes in tax laws, regulations, or interpretations thereof; or - lower than anticipated future earnings in jurisdictions where we have lower statutory tax rates and higher than anticipated future earnings in jurisdictions where we have higher statutory tax rates. In addition, we may be subject to audits of our income, sales, and other transaction taxes by taxing authorities. Outcomes from these audits could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

State and federal laws and regulations, including HIPAA, govern the collection, dissemination, use, disclosure, creation, receipt, maintenance, transmission, privacy, confidentiality, security, availability, and integrity of personal identifiable information, including PHI. HIPAA establishes basic national privacy and security standards for protection of PHI by covered entities such as our Assignors, and the business associates with whom such entities contract for services, including us. As a business associate, we are also directly liable for HIPAA compliance. In addition to HIPAA, we must adhere to state patient confidentiality and other laws that are not preempted by HIPAA, including those that are more stringent than HIPAA. In the event of a breach of our obligations under HIPAA or other state laws, we could be subject to enforcement actions and lawsuits brought by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") and state regulators, and class action lawsuits brought by private plaintiffs. Mandatory penalties for HIPAA violations can be significant and OCR and state regulators may require businesses to enter into settlement or resolution agreements and corrective action plans that impose ongoing compliance requirements. If a person knowingly or intentionally obtains or discloses PHI in violation of HIPAA requirements, criminal penalties may also be imposed. In addition, state Attorneys General are authorized to bring civil actions under HIPAA or relevant state laws. Courts can award damages, costs, and attorneys' fees related to violations of HIPAA or state laws in such cases. While we maintain safeguards that we believe are reasonable and appropriate to protect the privacy and security of PHI and other personal identifiable information consistent with applicable law and our contractual obligations, we cannot provide assurances regarding how these laws, regulations, and contracts will be interpreted, enforced, or applied to our operations.

We rely significantly on proprietary technology, information, processes, and know-how that are not subject to patent or copyright protection. We seek to protect this information through trade secret or confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, subcontractors or other parties, as well as through other security measures. These agreements and security measures may be inadequate to deter misappropriation of intellectual property and may be insufficient to protect our proprietary information. Misappropriation of our intellectual property by third parties, or any disclosure or dissemination of our business intelligence, queries, Algorithms, and other similar information by any means, could undermine competitive advantages we currently derive or may derive therefrom. Any of these situations could result in our expending significant time and incurring expense to enforce our intellectual property rights. Although we have taken measures to protect our proprietary rights, others may compete with our business by offering solutions or services that are substantially similar to ours. If the protection of our proprietary rights is inadequate to prevent unauthorized use or appropriation by third parties or our employees, the value of our solutions, brand, and other intangible assets may be diminished and competitors may be able to more effectively offer solutions that have the same or similar functionality as our solutions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We rely on information technology networks and systems to process and store electronic information. We collect and store sensitive data, including personally identifiable information on our information technology networks. Our systems may be vulnerable to physical break-ins, viruses, hackers, and other potential sources of security breaches or incidents. We may not be able to prevent incidents of inappropriate use or disclosure or unauthorized access to or acquisition. Despite the implementation of security measures, our information technology networks and systems have been, and in the future may be, vulnerable to disruptions and shutdowns due to attacks by hackers or breaches due to malfeasance by contractors, employees, and others who have access to our networks and systems. The occurrence of any of these cybersecurity events could compromise our networks and the information stored on our networks could be accessed. Any such access could disrupt our operations, adversely affect the willingness of existing or potential Assignors to do business with us or result in legal claims, liability, reputational damage, or regulatory penalties under laws protecting the privacy of personal information, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results. We rely heavily on technology to communicate internally and efficiently perform our services. We have implemented measures that are designed to mitigate the potential adverse effects of a disruption, relocation, or change in operating environment; however, we cannot provide assurance that the situations we plan for and the amount of insurance coverage that we maintain will be adequate in any particular case. In addition, despite system redundancy and security measures, our systems and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from, among other sources: - power loss, transmission cable cuts and telecommunications failures;- damage or interruption caused by fire, earthquakes and other natural disasters;- attacks by hackers or nefarious actors;- human error;- computer viruses and other malware or software defects; and - physical break-ins, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism, terrorist attacks and other events beyond our control. If we encounter a business interruption, if we fail to effectively maintain our information systems, if it takes longer than we anticipate to complete required upgrades, enhancements, or integrations or if our business continuity plans and business interruption insurance do not effectively compensate on a timely basis, we could suffer operational disruptions, disputes with Assignors, civil or criminal penalties, regulatory problems, increases in administrative expenses, loss of our ability to produce timely and accurate financial and other reports or other adverse consequences, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. As we collect and manage large amounts of data, it is possible that hardware failures or errors in our systems could result in data loss or corruption or cause the information that we collect to be incomplete or contain inaccuracies that our partners regard as significant. If our data were found to be inaccurate or unreliable due to fraud or other error, or if we, or any of the third-party service providers we engage, were to fail to maintain information systems and data integrity effectively, we could experience operational disruptions that may hinder our ability to provide services, establish appropriate pricing for services, retain and attract Assignors, establish reserves, timely report financial results, and accurately and maintain regulatory compliance, among other things. Additionally, as Assignors maintain their own supporting documentation, data, and records, it is possible that they may provide us with erroneous or inaccurate data. The occurrence of any of these events could cause our solutions to be perceived as vulnerable, cause our Assignors to lose confidence in our solutions, negatively affect our ability to attract new Assignors and cause existing Assignors to terminate or not renew our solutions. If the information is lost, improperly disclosed, or threatened to be disclosed, we could incur significant liability and be subject to regulatory scrutiny and penalties. Furthermore, we could be forced to expend significant resources in response to a security breach, including investigating the cause of the breach, repairing system damage, increasing cyber-security protection costs by deploying additional personnel and protection technologies, notifying and providing credit monitoring to affected individuals, paying regulatory fines and litigating and resolving legal Claims and regulatory actions, all of which could increase our expenses and divert the attention of our management and key personnel away from our business operations. In addition, if our own confidential business information were improperly disclosed, our business could be materially adversely affected. A core aspect of our business is the reliability and security of our technology platform. Any perceived or actual breach of security could have a significant impact on our reputation as a trusted brand, cause us to lose existing Assignors, prevent us from obtaining new Assignors, require us to expend significant funds to remedy problems caused by breaches and to implement measures to prevent further breaches and expose us to legal risk and potential liability. Any security breach at a third-party vendor providing services to us could have similar effects. Any breach or disruption of any systems or networks on which we rely could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Our information technology strategy and execution are critical to our continued success. We expect to continue to invest in long-term solutions that will enable us to continue being a differentiator in the market and to protect against cybersecurity risks and threats. Our success is dependent, in large part, on maintaining the effectiveness of existing technology systems and continuing to deliver and enhance technology systems that support our business processes in a cost-efficient and resource-efficient manner. Increasing regulatory and legislative changes will place additional demands on our information technology infrastructure that could have a direct impact on resources available for other projects tied to our strategic initiatives. In addition, recent trends toward greater patient engagement in health care require new and enhanced technologies, including more sophisticated applications for mobile devices. Connectivity among technologies is becoming increasingly important. We must continue to develop our systems to meet market standards and keep pace with continuing changes in information processing technology, evolving industry and regulatory standards and patient needs. Failure to do so may present compliance challenges and impede our ability to deliver services in a competitive manner. Further, because system development projects are long-term in nature, they may be more costly than expected to complete and may not deliver the expected benefits upon completion. Our failure to effectively invest in, implement improvements to, and properly maintain the uninterrupted operation and data integrity of our information technology and other business systems could adversely affect our results of operations, financial position, and cash flow. If any of our employees or contractors take, convert, or misuse such information, or we experience a data breach creating a risk of identity theft, we could be liable for damages and our business reputation could be damaged. In addition, we could be perceived to have facilitated or participated in illegal misappropriation of documents or data and, therefore, be subject to civil or criminal liability. In addition, federal and state regulators may take the position that a data breach or misdirection of data constitutes an unfair or deceptive act or trade practice. We also may be required to notify individuals affected by any data breaches. Further, a data breach or similar incident could impact the ability of our Assignors that are creditors to comply with the federal "red flags" rules, which require the implementation of identity theft prevention programs to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft in connection with Assignor accounts, which could be costly. If data utilized in our solutions are misappropriated for the purposes of identity theft or similar illegal behavior, it could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our ability to conduct our operations and accurately report our financial results depends on the integrity of the data in our information systems and the integrity of the processes performed by those systems. These information systems and applications require continual maintenance, upgrading, and enhancement to meet our operational needs, satisfy Assignor requests and handle and enable our expansion and growth. Despite our testing and quality control measures, we cannot be certain that errors or system deficiencies will not be found, and that remediation can be done in a timeframe that is acceptable to our Assignors or that Assignor relationships will not be impaired by the occurrence of errors or the need for remediation. In addition, implementation of upgrades and enhancements may cost more, take longer, or require more testing than originally expected. Given the large amount of data we collect and manage, it is possible that hardware failures, errors, or technical deficiencies in our systems could result in data loss or corruption or cause the information that we collect, utilize, or disseminate to be incomplete or contain inaccuracies that our Assignors regard as significant. Moreover, because we submit high volumes of monetary Claims to third parties, the efficiency and effectiveness of our own operations are to some degree dependent on the Claims processing systems of these third parties and their compliance with any new transaction and code set standards. Since October 1, 2015, health plans, commercial payers and healthcare providers have been required to transition to the new ICD-10 coding system, which greatly expands the number and detail of diagnosis codes used for inpatient, outpatient, and physician Claims. The transition to the new transaction and code set standard is expensive, time-consuming, and may initially result in disruptions or delays as we and other stakeholders make necessary system adjustments to be fully compliant and capable of exchanging data. In addition, we may experience delays in processing Claims and therefore earning our fees if the third parties with whom we work are not in full compliance with these new standards in the required timeframe. Claims processing systems failures, incapacities, or deficiencies internal to these third parties could significantly delay or obstruct our ability to recover money, and thereby interfere with our performance and our ability to generate revenue in the timeframe we anticipate which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our success depends largely upon the continued services of our senior management team and other key employees. We rely on our leadership team in the areas of operations, information technology and security, marketing, compliance, and general and administrative functions. From time to time, there may be changes in our executive management team resulting from the hiring or departure of executives, which could disrupt our business. The loss of one or more of the members of our senior management team, or other key employees, could negatively impact the operations and profitability of the Company. In particular, the loss of the services of our founder and Chief Executive Officer, John H. Ruiz, could significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our strategic objectives. Changes in our executive management team may also cause disruptions in, and harm to, our business. The Company does not maintain key-man life insurance on any of its officers. The services of such personnel may not continue to be available to the Company. We anticipate that some or all of the management of the Company will remain in place.

We may provide our services as a servicing agent to third parties. These services include, but are not limited to, identifying, processing, prosecuting, and recovering monies related to recoverable Claims. As a servicing agent, we will act as an independent contractor on behalf of a contracting party who owns the rights to certain recoverable Claims. If a party terminates such servicing agreement with us, or if either party is in default of any servicing agreement, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We hold a number of insurance policies to hedge against risks inherent in our business. If the costs of maintaining adequate insurance coverage should increase significantly in the future, our operating results could be materially adversely affected. Likewise, if any of our current insurance coverage should become unavailable to us or become economically impractical, we would be required to operate our business without indemnity from commercial insurance providers. Similarly, if we exhaust our current insurance coverage for any given policy period, we would be required to operate our business without indemnity from commercial insurance providers for any Claims made that are attributable to that policy period. Failure to maintain certain insurance policies could constitute a material breach of contract terms with certain Assignors and business partners.

Our operations are dependent on a concentrated number of payers with whom our Assignors contract to provide services. The loss of these contracts for our Assignors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows. The sudden loss of an Assignor or the renegotiation of the future rights of an Assignors' contract could adversely affect our operating results. Moreover, our inability to maintain agreements with our Assignors with respect to their health care Claims recovery rights and data, or to negotiate favorable terms for those agreements in the future, could result in the loss of revenue and could have a material adverse effect on our profitability and business.

We believe that maintaining and enhancing our reputation and brand recognition is critical to our relationships with existing Assignors and ability to attract new Assignors. The promotion of our brand may require us to make substantial investments and we anticipate that, as our market becomes increasingly competitive, these marketing initiatives may become increasingly difficult and expensive. Our marketing activities may not be successful or yield increased revenue and to the extent that these activities yield increased revenue, the increased revenue may not offset the expenses we incur and our results of operations could be harmed. In addition, any factor that diminishes our reputation or that of our management, including failing to meet expectations, or any adverse publicity or litigation involving or surrounding us, could make it substantially more difficult for us to attract new Assignors. In addition, negative publicity resulting from an adverse government audit could injure our reputation. If we do not successfully maintain and enhance our reputation and brand recognition, our business may not grow and we could lose our relationships with Assignors, which would harm our business, results of operations, and financial condition. The registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names that we own or license may be challenged, infringed, circumvented, declared generic, lapsed, or determined to be infringing on or dilutive of other marks. We may not be able to protect our rights in these trademarks and trade names, which we need in order to build name recognition with Assignors, payers, and other partners. In addition, third parties may in the future file for registration of trademarks similar or identical to our trademarks. If they succeed in registering or developing common law rights in such trademarks, and if we are not successful in challenging such third-party rights, we may not be able to use these trademarks to promote our business in certain relevant jurisdictions. If we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, we may not be able to compete effectively and our brand recognition, reputation and results of operations may be adversely affected.

During periods of high unemployment, governmental entities often experience budget deficits as a result of increased costs and lower than expected tax collections. These budget deficits affect federal, state, and local government entities and may result in reductions in spending for health and human service programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and similar programs, which represent significant payer sources for our Assignors.