Posts tagged ‘law firm’
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Securities Fraud / Broker Fraud Attorney
The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm.
The White Law Group has its offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida because of the obvious benefits of being located so close to the FINRA Dispute Resolutions offices in those cities (FINRA’s Southeast headquarters is located at Boca Center Tower 1, 5200 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton, FL 33486- less than one mile from our office, and FINRA’s Midwest headquarters is located at 55 West Monroe Street, Suite 2600, Chicago, IL 60603-1002- close to the firm’s Chicago office).
Having our offices located so close to FINRA’s regional headquarters has its advantages, particularly since all cases filed in the southeast portion of the United States are administered out of FINRA’s Boca Raton, Florida Dispute Resolution office, and all cases in the Midwest portion of the United States are administered out of FINRA’s Chicago, Illinois Dispute Resolution office.
Although located in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida, The White Law Group handles securities fraud cases throughout the country and Pennsylvania, including reviewing securities fraud cases in Pittsburgh, Hershey, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Altoona, State College, Latrobe, Allentown, Lancaster, and Reading. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions.
To contact The White Law Group, please call 312-238-9650. Or, for more information about The White Law Group or securities fraud, you can also visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
Investigation Into Possible Securities Fraud Involving Sub-Prime Issues Such As American Home Mortgage, New Century Financial Corp., and Novastar
The White Law Group is investigating the appropriateness of financial advisor’s recommendations that investors purchase sub-prime issues like American Home Mortgage, New Century Financial Corp., Novastar and other similar companies.
In many cases, these investments were pitched by stockbrokers and financial advisors at Merrill Lynch, Wachovia (n/k/a Wells Fargo), Smith Barney, AG Edwards, Edward Jones, and Morgan Stanley as safe and secure investments. Unfortunately, these representations proved to be false and clients suffered significant and sometimes complete investment losses.
American Home Mortgage has even been the subject of a class action which alleges that the company, contrary to its public posture as a prime mortgage lender, abandoned its underwriting guidelines to drive growth by issuing high-risk loans to borrowers with poor credit.
Furthermore, the class action alleges that mortgage loans that American Home sold on the secondary market and which the Company was then forced to repurchase due to their low quality were held by the Company for full value in its investment portfolio, rather than being sold at a loss or marked down.
The White Law Group is investigating whether broker-dealers’ recommendations that retail investors invest in these sub-prime companies were appropriate in light of the extraordinary risk involved, and whether these firms failed to perform the necessary due diligence to determine the risk involved in investing in such companies prior to recommending that their clients invest.
If you have any information that may assist us in our investigation into possible securities fraud involving the sale of sub-prime issues such as American Home Mortgage, New Century Financial Corp., and Novastar by financial advisors, please contact The White Law Group at 312-238-9650.
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. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
Investigating regarding the appropriateness of structured products such as ELKS for retail investors.
The White Law Group is investigating the appropriateness of structured product investments sold by various broker-dealers (including Citigroup’s ELKS structured product), to retail investors.
Structured products are complicated investments that are only appropriate for sophisticated or institutional investors. Structured products are designed to facilitate highly customized risk-return objectives by taking a traditional security, such as a conventional investment-grade bond, and replacing the usual payment features (e.g. periodic coupons and final principal) with non-traditional payoffs derived not from the issuer’s own cash flow, but from the performance of one or more underlying assets.
It’s become apparent that many retail investors have suffered losses associated with structured products that were sold to them by their financial advisor. Many brokerage firms peddled structured products using monikers such as PACERS, STRIDES, SPARQS, and ELEMENTS.
One example of such a structured product is one developed by Citigroup called ELKS, or equity linked security. Citigroup’s ELKS (equity linked security) product is a risky derivative instrument where an investor is offered a specified return on a structured security tied to an individual stock. Providing the stock maintains a minimum value, the guaranteed return is paid. However, if the stock ever falls below the minimum value (sometimes around 80 percent), the ELKS immediately converts into shares of that stock. Then if the price of the underlying stock declines, the investor could receive a stock worth much less than their initial investment.
While ELKS offer potentially higher returns, the downside risk is unlimited if the stock price declines. Also, if the underlying stock increases dramatically in value, the investor only gets the guaranteed return (and does not benefit from the dramatic gain).
Other examples of structured products sold by brokerage firms include UBS’ PERLES structured product (PERformance Linked to Equity Securities), and Morgan Stanley’s Performance Leveraged Upside Securities (or PLUS).
The broker-dealers that sell these structured products charge investors an upfront commission to buy them and likely earn additional profits through hedging of the investments and the underlying stocks. Brokerage firms were aggressively selling structured derivative products like ELKS to unsophisticated retail investors a few years ago, prompting FINRA to warn member firms of concerns that customers didn’t understand the inherent risks (see, for example, FINRA Notice to Member 05-59).
If you have any information that may assist us in our investigation into possible securities fraud involving the sale of structured products by financial advisors, please contact The White Law Group at 312-238-9650.
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. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
Recovery of Lehman Brothers “100 Percent Principal Protective Note” Losses
The White Law Group is investigating securities fraud claims involving investors that were improperly sold Lehman Brothers “100 Percent Principal Protected Notes” by financial advisors at major Wall Street firms including UBS. These “100 Percent Principal Protected Notes” were marketed as “risk free” investments geared towards conservative or retired investors, but were rendered nearly worthless after Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008.
Regulators including FINRA have launched investigations into how these products were sold and whether UBS and other brokerages failed to fully disclose the risks of these investment products.
Additionally, arbitration panels have awarded damages to numerous investors that were sold these products.
If you have any information that may assist us in our investigation into possible securities fraud involving the sale of these “100 Percent Principal Protected Notes” to investors, please contact The White Law Group at 312-238-9650.
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. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
Investigation Into Financial Advisor’s Unsuitable Recommendation to Purchase Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Preferred Stocks.
We are investigating a possible securities fraud claim on behalf of an investor involving an improper and unsuitable investment recommendation made to induce the investor to purchase Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae preferred stocks.
Based on our preliminary investigation, it appears that a large number of clients of full service brokerage firms and banks were misrepresented the true risks associated with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stocks or sold unsuitable and inappropriate amounts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred shares.
It further appears that financial advisors primarily misrepresented the true nature of the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae preferred stocks in one of two ways: (1) Clients were either told that they either could not lose money, or would not lose investment principal in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stocks; or (2) investors were told that in the unlikely event Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac defaulted, the U.S. government would step in and make investors whole or otherwise cover their investment losses.
Such representations misrepresented the nature of preferred stocks and risk associated with investing in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stocks. Unlike bonds, preferred stock can be risky and there was absolutely no guarantee that the U.S. government would step in and make investors whole in the event that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in trouble.
As we now know, losses incurred by investors invested in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stocks holders were huge. Unfortunately, preferred stocks of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac carried extreme risks and these risks were either glossed over or downplayed by brokers and financial advisors at major brokerage firms and banks.
If you have any information that may assist us in our investigation on behalf of this investor, please contact us at 312-238-9650.
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. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.