A friend of mine advised me of the recent death of the owner of a third-party administration (TPA) firm, that I actually introduced the friend to.

I remember when that TPA owner first called me, it was a few months after I started my own practice. For a couple of years, the relationship was very fruitful, in terms of plan document work and monthly retainers. He was one of those people, who promised to make me rich and failed. We were going to make a mint in the multiple employer plan business, but he probably had ADHD and we didn’t, once the Department of Labor came out with their advisory opinion on Open MEPs in 2012. I noticed some issues when long-time employees started to leave and he would say disparaging things, including the female actuary he bought the business from, and probably stiffed. Then he stiffed me on $40,000 in plan documents. Then he started changing the name of his TPA with new names and entities to avoid paying off his creditors, including me after I got a default judgment in a state court.

I don’t get joy from his death and never wished bad on him after what he did. He was a narcissist, he was a cheat, and he was a liar. I am none of those things and I know, that I never would have treated him the way he treated me, and his former employees. I have no anger towards him, even if he had promised me to pay what he owed me after Hurricane Sandy flooded my house. He became such a non-factor to me, that I had forgotten about him until I found out he died.