Before You Sell
Your USVSST Judgment

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If you hold a 9/11 judgment against Iran, sooner or later someone may offer to buy it, or to buy your future USVSST Fund payments, for a lump sum today. Some families find these offers tempting, especially when rounds feel small and far apart. This page is not advice to sell or not to sell. It is the set of facts, each with its citation, that belongs on the table before you and your attorney evaluate any offer. We do not broker these transactions, we do not recommend any buyer, and the decision itself is one for your own attorney and a CPA.

Fact one: taking Fund payments does not cost you your judgment

A worry we hear is that accepting Fund money somehow uses up the judgment. It does not. The statute says it plainly:

“each applicant shall retain that applicant's creditor rights in any unpaid and outstanding amounts of the judgment, including any prejudgment or post-judgment interest, or punitive damages.”

Source: 34 U.S.C. § 20144(d)(5)(B).

So after every Fund payment, whatever remains unpaid on your judgment is still yours, including the interest and any punitive damages. The United States is subrogated to your rights only “to the extent and in the amount of” what it actually paid you, and it pursues those rights itself. A Fund payment reduces your unpaid balance by that amount; it does not wipe out the remainder.

Fact two: the Fund will not honor a side deal

Some offers are structured as an assignment of your future Fund payments, or as a “structured settlement” of them. Know what the Fund itself says about that:

“the Special Master will not enter into, approve, or ratify any payment distribution agreements or any terms of such agreements, such as structured settlements.”

Source: USVSST Fund Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ 4.17.

No third party can promise you that the Fund will send your payments somewhere else or bless the arrangement. Whatever a contract says between you and a buyer is a private matter with private risks, and it is exactly the kind of document your own attorney needs to read before you sign, because it defines what rights you would be giving away.

Fact three: an outside recovery changes your Fund timing, by the 30% rule

If instead of selling you are weighing an outside recovery on your judgment (for example, enforcing it against seized assets), that path runs through the 30% rule. If you have received, or are entitled or scheduled to receive, 30 percent or more of your compensatory damages from any source other than the Fund, you receive nothing further from the Fund until all other eligible claimants have also reached 30 percent from the Fund. If you have received less than 30 percent, your award is based on the difference, bringing you toward that line. A pending enforcement action counts: the statute's definition of “entitled or scheduled to receive” includes any potential recovery where you or your representative is a party to a pending action to enforce the judgment.

The Fund is explicit that this is not a cap on your award; it is an accounting-and-leveling rule. And life insurance, VCF money, and Defense Base Act benefits are expressly not counted against you.

Before anything gets signed

• Take the actual offer to your attorney. The core question is what rights you would be assigning, on what terms, and what happens if future rounds are larger or smaller than the buyer assumed.
• Take it to a CPA too. The tax consequences of selling a judgment for a lump sum can differ from the tax treatment of receiving payments over time, and both are fact-specific.
• Compare the net, not the headline. Remember that on Fund payments themselves, attorney fees for 9/11 claims are capped at 15 percent by statute. Any comparison of “sell now” versus “stay in” should be net of every cost on both paths.
• A solicitation is not a deadline. There is no rule that an offer must be answered quickly. Treat pressure to sign fast as information about the offer.

Sources

• Retained creditor rights after Fund payments (including interest and punitive damages): 34 U.S.C. § 20144(d)(5)(B).
• Pro-rata payments out of available funds until paid in full or the Fund sunsets in 2039: USVSST Fund, Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ 4.1, at usvsst.com.
• The Special Master will not enter into, approve, or ratify payment distribution agreements or structured settlements: USVSST Fund, Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ 4.17.
• Subrogation of the United States limited to the extent and amount of payments made: 34 U.S.C. § 20144(d)(5)(A).
• The 30% rule: 34 U.S.C. § 20144(d)(3)(B)(i)–(ii); the definition of “entitled or scheduled to receive” (including pending enforcement actions): § 20144(j)(6) and USVSST Fund FAQ 4.9; the Fund's statement that the 30% provision is not a cap on the award: FAQ 4.11; exclusions for life insurance, VCF, and Defense Base Act benefits: FAQ 4.8.
• Attorney-fee cap on 9/11 USVSST payments (15%): 34 U.S.C. § 20144(f)(1).