Investor Lawyers Blog

Spartan Capital Securities Broker Joseph Kelly Is Accused of Making Unsuitable Investment Recommendations

Published on: November 24, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

New York Stockbroker is Named in Multiple Customer Disputes

If you suffered substantial losses from investments recommended to you by Spartan Capital Securities broker Joseph Kelly, you may have grounds for filing a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim to recover your losses.

Kelly, who is based in New York, is the subject of three pending customer complaints seeking damages. He has been with Spartan Capital Securities since 2017 and before that from 2013 to 2016. At Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm), our New York securities fraud attorneys would be happy to offer you a free case assessment. Contact us at (716) 261-3529 today.

Royal Alliance, Securities America, & Other Firms To Pay $3M for Allegedly Unsuitable iPath S&P 500 VIX Short–Term Futures ETN & Other ETP Sales

Published on: November 23, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Retail Investors Were Allegedly Told To Hold Exchange-Traded Products for Too Long

In separate settlements reached with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Royal Alliance Associates, Securities America Advisors, Summit Financial Group, Benjamin F. Edwards & Co., and American Portfolio Financial Services / American Portfolio Advisers will pay over $3M in penalties and restitution for their allegedly unsuitable sales of exchange-traded products (ETPs) to customers between January 2016 and April 2020. The firms did not deny or admit to the findings.

All of the respondents recommended and sold iPath S&P 500 VIX Short–Term Futures ETNs (VXX), which utilize short-terms futures contracts to try tracking the S&P 500 Index’s implied volatility. It also is considered one of the largest and most volatile ETPs and among the worst-performing from last year.

Hannes Financial Services’ Ronald Hannes Allegedly Defrauded Woodbury Financial Customers

Published on: November 20, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Banned Woodbury Financial Broker Allegedly Sold Fake Investments, Converted Client Monies

Ronald Walter Hannes, a Spokane, Washington-based investment advisor and former Woodbury Financial Services broker, is accused by the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions of defrauding 19 clients of over $2.9M.

Hannes had operated out of Hannes Financial Services and he was also a registered Woodbury Financial Services broker for 25 years until 2019. He has 33 years of experience working in the industry. Hannes was fired by Woodbury Financial Services last December. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) barred him in February.

Not All Resource Real Estate Opportunity REIT Investors May Have Been Apprised of Risks

Published on: November 19, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Resource Real Estate Opportunity REIT and REIT II Shares Reportedly Trading Under NAV Price

With shares in Resource Real Estate Opportunity REIT and Resource Real Estate Opportunity REIT II reportedly trading privately at lower prices than their net asset value (NAV), some investors may be wondering why they were never fully apprised of all the risks.

The news of the lower than NAV trading prices comes several months after both non-traded real estate investment trusts announced they were partially suspending share redemptions amidst their plans to merge with Resource Apartment REIT III, Inc.

Sierra Income Investors are Losing Money

Published on: November 17, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Risky, Illiquid Business Development Company Was Not Suitable for Many Investors

If you are someone who invested in the Sierra Income Corporation, you may have lost money. This business development company (BDC) is a non-traded investment.

Earlier this year, Sierra Income suffered losses after its announced merger with Medley Capital Corp. and Medley Management Inc. was terminated because of the economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19. Not long after that, the company announced that it was suspending monthly redistributions.

Multiple Investors Accuse Prime Capital Investment Advisors and Ex-Capital Securities Broker Luke Johnson of Unsuitable Investment Recommendations

Published on: November 16, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Scottsdale, Arizona Investment Advisor Was Fired By Broker-Dealer Coastal Securities

Luke Michael Johnson, currently Managing Director for Prime Capital Investment Advisors in Paradise Valley in the Scottsdale area, is named in over a dozen pending disputes by investors seeking damages for losses they allegedly suffered while working with him. Johnson was also the president of Legend Capital Group and a former Capital Securities broker where he worked for seven years.

There are 19 disclosures on his BrokerCheck record. The majority of these are investor claims, with a number of them requesting damages that are in the six- or seven-figures.

Global Investment Advisory Services’ Felipe Vargas is Named in Customer’s $1.3M Barclays Bank iPath Series B S & P 500 Short Term Futures ETN Claim

Published on: November 13, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Investor Contends Insigneo Securities Broker Unsuitably Handled Account

A former customer of Felipe Henao Vargas, an Insigneo Securities stockbroker, is pursuing a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against the brokerage firm for $1.3M in damages related to the iPath Series B S & P 500 Short Term Futures ETN (VXX). Henao is also a registered investment advisor with Global Investor Advisory Services, LLC in Miami, Florida.

The investor said that Henao had placed a short-term trade for 20,000 of the Barclays exchange-traded note (ETN) in late February 2020 in the investor’s account and then made another trade a few weeks later to cover the short. The claimant reportedly wrote an email expressing concerns over the brokerage account’s performance, which had depreciated in value, and Henao’s lack of communication.

Chinese Tycoon Sues UBS for $500M Over Losses Involving Margin Loan

Published on: November 11, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

High Net Worth Individual Investor Alleges That UBS Group AG Persuaded Him To Buy On Margin

Guo Wengui, a rich Chinese businessman exiled in New York, has filed a lawsuit against UBS Financial Group after losing $500M.

Wengui contends that the bank pressured him into borrowing funds to invest in shares of Haitong Securities, Co., a brokerage firm in China. This high net worth institutional investor alleges that in 2015, UBS forced the stock’s sale during both a 45% drop in Haitong’s shares, which were traded in Hong Kong and a market route. Guo said that he lost his entire investment.

Customers of Peregrine Private Capital’s Robert Smith File GPB Investment Fraud Claims

Published on: November 9, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-Concorde Investment Services Broker Allegedly Made Negligent Recommendations

Robert Scott Smith, the President of Peregrine Private Capital in Newberg, Oregon, and a former Concorde Investment Services, is named in multiple Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claims by former customers that invested in GPB private placement funds at his recommendation.

GPB Capital Holdings is accused of running a $1.8B Ponzi scam. Smith is one of a number of Concorde Investment Services brokers who sold this alternative asset firm’s private placements to customers.

UBS YES Strategy Customers of Broker Eric Wittenberg Are Seeking at Least $1.8M in Damages

Published on: November 5, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

New York Stockbroker and Investment Advisor is Accused of Misrepresentations and Unsuitability

Eric Andrew Wittenberg, a managing director and private wealth advisor at UBS Group AG (UBS) in the New York metropolitan area, is being blamed by a number of the firm’s customers for investment losses they suffered after he recommended the UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES) to them.

Wittenberg is one of many UBS registered representatives named in Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claims over this program.