777 Partners and the End of Private Credit
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August 13, 2026 | In this issue of The Institutional Risk Analyst, we return to the troubled world of private credit. People in the private credit trade will tell you that raising new money today is almost impossible. Why? Because there are growing signs of contagion in the insurance sector after years of dubious business practices by insurers controlled by private equity and credit firms. As details of some of these situations emerge, we suspect that the mainstream financial media will become more engaged.
Earlier this week, Alicia McElhaney at the Wall Street Journal wrote an important piece about the bankruptcy of 777 Partners, a default that has repercussions across many asset classes, including insurance. She writes:
“The Miami-based firm filed for bankruptcy Sunday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas, seeking an orderly liquidation of its remaining assets. The voluntary filing follows an effort by creditors in mid-July to force 777 into an involuntary chapter 7 liquidation. The firm has been selling off assets and winding down operations under independent management since 2024, following lender lawsuits and federal probes.”
But the visible financial problems of 777 Partners are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. After collapsing several years ago, efforts to restructure the fund were not successful and criminal charges were even brought against at least one former principal of the firm. Concerns about 777 Partners go back to late 2023, when the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) officially canceled the insurance registration of 777 Re Ltd, Reinsurance Business reported last year.
The financial problems of 777 Partners caused the Utah Department of Insurance to suspend new business activity by Advantage Capital or “A-Cap” as it is known in the industry. Earlier this year, Oaktree Capital Management, a unit of Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), acquired a controlling stake in one A-Cap unit, Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Co., while also providing capital to Sentinel Security Life Insurance Co. Oaktree is the grim reaper of Wall Street and delights in making money from other people's misery.
“777 Partners had attracted attention for deploying capital into a range of high-risk assets, including football clubs. The firm’s co-founder Josh Wander pursued a failed takeover of Everton FC after earlier investments in teams such as Genoa CFC and CR Vasco da Gama,” HedgeWeek reported in March. “Federal prosecutors in New York charged Wander in October with allegedly defrauding lenders and investors of about $500m.” Wander denied wrongdoing.
The scale of the financial collapse of 777 Partners is truly epic, yet very little notice to this massive default has been paid outside of the specialty media. Yet the Miami-based private equity and alternative investment firm has actually received intense, sustained coverage across global financial, investigative, and sports media outlets—particularly regarding its multi-club soccer network, the failed takeover of Everton FC, and subsequent collapse.
“777 Partners and 600 Partners, the two parent holding companies, held businesses and investments across structured finance and private credit, insurance and reinsurance, financial technology, litigation finance, aviation, professional sports, media and entertainment, and sustainability,” reports bankruptcy specialist Bondoro.com. “Those businesses were conducted through numerous operating subsidiaries, special-purpose entities, and portfolio holding companies.”
The scale of the 777 Partners default is quite vast, as described in the First Day Declaration by Mark Shapiro regarding one bankrupt affiliate known as Signal National LLC:
“777 Partners was formed as a Delaware limited liability company in 2015 by Wander and Pasko. Its original business was underwriting and financing the purchase of structured-settlement portfolios and other non-traditional receivables, including medical-lien receivables, structured-settlement payment streams, and annuity-backed receivables. Beginning around 2018, and accelerating from 2021, 777 Partners expanded well beyond that base into consumer and commercial finance, insurance distribution, aviation and airlines, media and entertainment, and ownership interests in professional sports clubs and leagues across the United States, Europe, South America, Australia, and the Caribbean. Pasko formed 600 Partners as a Delaware limited liability company in 2017 as an affiliated investment holding company. Its portfolio overlapped with a number of 777 Partners’ business lines, including structured settlements, aviation, media and entertainment, and professional sports.”
We believe that the unwind of 777 Partners and the literally hundreds of affiliates involved in this fiasco provides a picture of how the private credit trade is going to end. Millions of retirees who depend on life insurance and annuities could be affected by unsound management practices by private credit and equity managers who care only about profits. The First Day motion for Signal National LLC from the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas (Case 26-90190-elm11) is below for your reading pleasure.
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