The Massachusetts securities division is widening its probe into alleged proxy voting fraud at Realty Capital Securities to include independent broker-dealers and advisers that sold RCS alternative investments, including nontraded real estate investment trusts. According to Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s complaint against RCS, firm employees communicated with…
FINRA Expels Halcyon Cabot, Bars Chief Executives Halcyon Cabot Partners, Ltd. has been expelled by FINRA. The regulator also has barred its CEO Michael Morris and CCO Ronald Heineman from the securities industry. The reasons for the expulsion and bars include fraud, abusive sales practices, the concealment of private placement…
LPL Financial (LPLA) has agreed to pay 3.2 million fine to settle penalties related to its sale of nontraded real estate investment trusts and leveraged exchange-traded funds. The settlements were reached with the Non-Traded REIT Task Force of the North American Securities Administrators Association and regulators in Massachusetts and Delaware.…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. panel says that AIG Advisor Group (AIG) subsidiary Royal Alliance Associates Inc. must pay $1.4 million to three retirees who claim that the brokerage firm was negligent when supervising the sales of variable annuities and nontraded real estate investment trusts. The investors, who were…
According to the amended complaint of an investor class action securities case, American Realty Capital Properties Inc. made over $900 million in commissions, fees and payments issued to company insiders after it started an acquisition binge to raise its share price and capital. The non-traded real estate investment trust purportedly…
The New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation wants LPL Financial (LPLA) to pay clients $2.4 million in buybacks and restitution for 48 sales of nontraded real estate investment trusts that were purportedly unsuitable for elderly investors. The regulator, which says the firm did not properly supervise its agents, is also…
Even though the commercial real estate industry has recently rallied, shares of the nontraded real estate investment trust CNL Lifestyle Properties Inc. continue to plummet. According to the nontraded REIT’s filing with the SEC, as of the end of 2014 its board of directors approved a $5.20/share valuation—that’s a 24%…
Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. (IARE) has lowered its estimated share value by 42.4%, because the company sold or spun off different assets over the last year. Among these were its hotel portfolios, now a listed real estate investment trust known as Xenia Hotels & Resorts Incorporated. Inland American…
The New York City Retirement Systems and TIAA-CREF have joined other institutional investors in suing . They contend that the real estate investment trust violated federal securities laws when it allegedly made misleading and false statements that misrepresented the company’s business, as well as took part in a scam to…
American Realty Capital Properties’ (ARCP) credit rating was just downgraded to junk status by Moody’s Investors Service (MCO). The credit rater is now rating the real estate investment trust with a Ba1, which is just under investment grade. Moody’s has also given ARCP a negative outlook. The downgrade comes following…