Alleged bond fraud involving Venezuelan Bank and Direct Access Partners, Brokerage Firm in Miami
Thursday, May 9th, 2013According to the Southern Florida Business Journal, “The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) busted an alleged $66 million Venezuelan bank bond fraud” involving Tomas Clarke, an executive VP at Direct Access Partners in Miami, and two additional Miami residents. The fraud allegedly involved millions of dollars in bribes to high-ranking Venezuelan financial officials and excessive kickbacks to the participants in the alleged fraud.
The SEC alleges that the global markets group at Direct Access Partners “fixed-income trades for customers in foreign sovereign debt, generating more than $66 million in revenue from transaction fees – in the form of markups and markdowns – on riskless principal trade executions in Venezuelan sovereign or state-sponsored bonds.”
Maria de los Angeles Gonzalez, the Venezuelan bank vice president, is accused of using her position at the bank to ensure that its bond trading business would continue with Direct Access Partners.
Brokerage firms have a supervisory responsibility to monitor the activity of their executives. When an executive is accused of executing fraudulent trades, the brokerage firm may be liable for investment losses.
If you have questions about investments you made with Direct Access Partners, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help. To speak with a securities attorney, please call (561) 807-6804.
The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.
For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.
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Recovery of True North Investment Losses
Thursday, May 9th, 2013Have you suffered losses investing in a True North offering? If so, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help you recover your losses through a FINRA arbitration claim against the brokerage firm that sold you the investment.
True North Finance Corporation (f/k/a CS Financing Corporation) is a SEC-registered real estate finance company based in Minneapolis. From November 2006 to November 2008, it issued notes registered with the SEC. It filed a Form S-1 registration statement in late 2009 and two subsequent amendments in early 2010 for the issuance of $89,870,000 in notes.
In 2010, the SEC sued True North Finance Corporation (and other related individuals and entities) for alleged fraud. According to the SEC’s complaint, True North overstated its revenue by as much as 99% in its filings with the SEC in 2008 and 2009. The SEC further alleged that True North engaged in transactions, acts, practices or courses of business which constitute violations of 13(b)(2)(A), 13(b)(2)(B), and 15(d) of the Exchange Act and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, and 13a-13 thereunder. The SEC also alleged that True North overstated its revenue on the only two investments it ever made – a purchase of unsecured notes issued by Assured Financial, a real estate lender affiliated with Hennessey Financial, and a line of credit to Real Equity Solutions, a Marin County, California real estate lender.
The White Law Group is investigating the liability that brokerage firms may have for recommending True North investments.
Brokerage firms have a fiduciary duty to their clients to provide adequate due diligence on any investment offered. Additionally, brokerage firms are required to only recommend investments that appropriate for a particular client in light of that clients age, investment experience, investment objectives, and net worth. Based on what is now known about the True North fund, it appears that the firms that sold the investment failed to perform adequate due diligence on the offering.
In a November court filing, the SEC said that NFP Securities, a FINRA registered broker-dealer, “brought in a majority” of the investors in the True North fund.
If you invested in the True North fund or another investment offered by True North Financial Corporation and would like to speak with a securities attorney regarding your litigation options, please call The White Law Group at 312/238-9650 for a free consultation.
The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.
For more information on The White Law Group, visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
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Update on Erickson Retirement Communities Investigation
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013The White Law Group continues to investigate the sale of a private debt offering in Erickson Retirement Communities by brokerage firms who may have failed to perform adequate due diligence when recommending these products to clients.
As reported in an earlier post here, the Erickson Retirement Communities filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2009. Erickson listed $2.7 billion in assets, according to bankruptcy reports, and has facilities throughout the US. Investors in Sedgebrook Assisted Living Complex, a Chicago based Erickson Retirement Community, were paid only $3.5 million of the $95 million total debt according to reports.
According to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, a number of investor have filed a claim with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against brokerage firm, B.C. Ziegler & Co., to recover their losses. According to the article, the allegations againstB.C. Ziegler include breach of fiduciary duty, failure to supervise, and selling to unaccredited investors.
The article says that one investor was told that the Erickson investment “would provide 11% returns” and “they were assured by their broker that it was a safe investment.” Given the performance of the Erickson investment, it appears that such statements (if true) were not accurate.
Upon information and belief, many investor were unaware of the risks or mislead by the brokerage firm that sold Erickson investments. Brokerage firms have a fiduciary duty to their clients and are required to perform adequate due diligence prior to making investment recommendations to determine if an investment is appropriate given the clients age, risk tolerance, and financial objectives. In addition, brokerage firms are required to disclose all the risks of a given investment. If a firm failed to appropriately recommend an investment, investors may be able to recover their losses though a FINRA arbitration claim.
If you invested in Erickson Retirement Communities and would like to speak to a securities attorney about your litigation options, please call The White Law Group at 312-238-9650 for a free consultation.
The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.
For more information on The White Law Group and the firm’s securities fraud practice visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.
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FINRA Arbitration Attorney
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013In addition to its regulatory functions, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) operates the largest dispute resolution forum in the securities industry. In fact, FINRA Dispute Resolution is the forum for virtually all disputes between and among investors, brokerage firms and individual brokers.
The vast majority of brokerage firms have mandatory arbitration clauses in their account agreements that require investors to file their disputes through FINRA.
FINRA Arbitration is very different than court litigation, with its own specific rules of procedure and operation. To see the FINRA Code of Arbitration Procedure, visit http://www.finra.org/arbitrationandmediation/arbitration/rules/codeofarbitrationprocedure/.
The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. The firm represents investors throughout the country in FINRA arbitration claims against broker-dealers.
The White Law Group’s FINRA attorneys have worked on over 400 FINRA arbitration claims and have handled FINRA arbitration claims involving unauthorized trading, unsuitable investments, fraud, negligence, churning/excessive trading, and improper use of margin (among other types of claims).
If you believe that you have a viable FINRA arbitration claim and would like to speak with a FINRA arbitration attorney regarding your litigation options, please call The White Law Group at 312/238-9650 for a free consultation.
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California Financial Advisor Suspended by FINRA
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013FINRA recently announced that Paul Grover Gomez a registered representative in El Toro, California has been fined $75,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for three months.
Without admitting or denying the allegations, Gomez consented to the entry of findings that his options recommendations to customers were unsuitable based on their investment objectives, financial situations and needs, including being retired and on fixed incomes. According to the FINRA announcement, the findings further stated that Gomez did not have reasonable grounds for believing that the recommendations to the customers were suitable in light of their financial situations and needs, and did not have a reasonable basis for believing that the customers had the knowledge and experience in financial matters to be reasonably expected to be capable of evaluating the risks of the options transactions that Gomez recommended.
Finally, FINRA’s findings also included that Gomez utilized an uncovered index option combination writing (or selling) strategy in customer accounts and that the strategy purportedly involved selling put and call options on the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 100 stock index.
The White Law Group is investigating the liability that Gomez’s employers may have for his alleged conduct. To the extent that his employers failed to properly supervise Gomez contributing to clients’ losses, the employers may be held liable for damages in a FINRA arbitration claim.
If you suffered losses investing with Gomez and would like to discuss your litigation options, please call the securities attorneys of The White Law Group at 312/238-9650 for a free consultation.
The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.
For more information on the firm, visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
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