Investor Lawyers Blog

Raymond James Pays $500K After Broker is Accused of Elder Financial Abuse

Published on: October 6, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Raymond James Pays $500K After Broker is Accused of Elder Financial Abuse

Broker-Dealer Allegedly Failed To Supervise Ex-Stockbroker Frederick Stow Who Stole Older Investors’ Money

Unfortunately, elder financial abuse continues to be a huge problem. In many instances, the perpetrators have been financial professionals, including those who are registered brokers at well-known brokerage firms. If you (or someone you love) are a senior investor who has suffered losses that you suspect may be caused by broker misconduct or negligence, it is important that you explore your legal options right away.

SSEK Represents Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) Investor Arbitration Claims

Published on: October 6, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Continues To Represent Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) Investors With Brokerage Firm Arbitration Claims

Our expert Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) Brokerage Firm Arbitration attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas are continuing to investigate claims by investors seeking to recover losses they sustained in this obscure, offshore entity. Many of these claimants are retail customers and retirees. All of them are foreign nationals from Asia, Latin America, South America, or Central America who sought a safe haven for their assets in the United States. Instead, their broker-dealers unsuitably recommended Northstar (Bermuda) products, which lack the kinds of protections that come with US-based investments.

Broker Negligence May Have Caused Investors From All Over The World To Be Unsuitably Recommended Northstar (Bermuda) Products

Why GWG L Bond Investors Should Contact An Experienced FINRA Arbitration Lawyer

Published on: October 6, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Importance of Filing Your Own FINRA Arbitration Case

If you are an investor who has suffered losses in GWG L Bonds, you are likely trying to determine what to do next. Just because GWG Holdings has filed for bankruptcy protection doesn’t mean you stand to recover anything from these proceedings. This is why it is so important that you speak with a seasoned FINRA arbitration law firm so that we can help you explore your legal options with you.

Already, our FINRA arbitration attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (investorlawyers.com) are representing many investors who suffered losses because their broker-dealers unsuitably recommended GWG L Bonds to them. These junk bonds were always too high-risk for retail customers and retirees. Yet these two types of investors are among the ones now needing to recover damages.

Atlas Growth Partners Investors May Be Able To Recoup Losses

Published on: September 28, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Broker-Dealers May Have Unsuitably Sold This Risky Investment To Retail Customers and Retirees

If your broker recommended that you purchase shares in Atlas Growth Partners, LP, you may be able to file a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against the broker-dealer. Unfortunately, according to the limited partnership’s filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Atlas Growth investors may have lost nearly 99% of their principal. Not only that, but after raising more than $230M from thousands of investors, as of March 31, 2021, the company was only able to report net assets of under $4M. This means that Atlas Growth investors could be looking at more than $200M in losses.

Our Texas oil and gas securities lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (investorlawyers.com) are working with Atlas Growth Partners investors, including many retail investors and retirees, that were unsuitably sold shares in this company. Please contact us today at (800) 259-9010 so that one of our securities attorneys can help you explore your legal options.

Did Your Joseph Stone Capital Broker Excessively Trade in Your Account?

Published on: September 22, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Customers Who Are The Victims of Churning May Be Able To Recover Damages

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has ordered Joseph Stone Capital and a number of its registered representatives to pay $1M in restitution for allegedly excessively trading in customers’ accounts. This includes $825K in restitution from the broker-dealers and $211K from eight current and ex-Joseph Stone brokers, all of whom have been suspended.

Three Joseph Stone supervisors were also suspended for allegedly not doing enough to identify or address red flags warning of this purported broker misconduct. Two other Joseph Stone representatives were barred for not responding to FINRA’s requests for more information in its investigation.

What is Breach of Fiduciary Duty by a Stockbroker?

Published on: September 19, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

When Your Financial Advisor Fails To Act In Your Best Interests

Your registered broker-dealer owes you a fiduciary obligation to act in your best interests. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. Instead, your financial advisor might have unsuitably recommended an investment or trading strategy that was too risky for your risk tolerance level or engaged in unauthorized trading in your brokerage account without your permission. You also may have been the victim of outright broker fraud in which misappropriation or theft was involved. This is where our securities attorneys step in and help you.

Bottom line, financial advisors and their brokerage firms who breach their fiduciary duty to customers are placing them at risk of suffering significant investment losses. This is why breach of fiduciary is often what our securities lawyers hear as one of the most common claims made by investors seeking to pursue damages against a broker-dealer.

Oppenheimer Ordered To Pay $36.7M to Eight Investors of Alleged Horizon Private Equity III Ponzi Scam

Published on: September 16, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Customers Were Sold Private Equity Shares By Ex-Georgia Broker and Southport Capital Investment Adviser John Woods

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel in Atlanta has ordered Oppenheimer & Co. to pay several investors $36.7M in the wake of losses sustained in the alleged $110M Horizon Private Equity III Ponzi Scheme. The investment fraud was allegedly run by its former Georgia stockbroker John Justin Woods for several years, including while he was under the firm’s supervision. This award is six times what the claimants had sought.

The investors had originally asked for punitive damages and $6M in compensatory damages after accusing the firm of broker-dealer negligence, and other claims, as well as of violating the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act

Did Your Broker Recommend You Invest In The Deeproot Funds?

Published on: September 15, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

You May Be The Victim of a $58M Ponzi Scam

More than one year after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit against deeproot Funds and its owner Robert J. Mueller accusing them of running an alleged $58M Ponzi Scam that defrauded nearly 300 investors, these same alleged victims are still struggling to recover their losses without a securities attorney. Unfortunately, waiting for the SEC’s case to conclude very likely won’t help deeproot investors get most, or maybe even any, of their money back. The Commission’s main priorities in these types of complaints are to hold parties that violate securities laws responsible and issue sanctions and penalties against them.

This is why if you are a deeproot investor, it is important that you explore your legal options with the help of a skilled Texas securities lawyer. You will want to go after your broker-dealer or financial advisor that recommended this speculative, unregistered, risky private investment vehicle while very likely failing to conduct the proper due diligence to ensure that the deeproot Funds were legitimate investment ventures.

What Should Investors Know About The FINRA Arbitration Process?

Published on: September 14, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Shepherd, Smith, Edwards, and Kantas Has Been Fighting For Investors for Over 30 Years

If you are an investor looking to pursue financial recovery for your investment losses caused by unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentations and omissions, unauthorized trading, or other grounds, there is a very good chance that you signed an agreement with your broker-dealer in which you both consented to resolve any disputes through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration process. You may not have realized this at the time, but with that agreement, you essentially gave up your right to sue your brokerage firm and their financial advisor in court.

This is where Shepherd, Smith, Edwards, and Kantas’ securities lawyers (investorlawyers.com) can help. Our skilled FINRA lawyers have been fighting for investors for years and this includes representing our clients before panels of arbitrators all over the United States.

Did You Suffer Serious Investment Losses While Working With Former Morgan Stanley Broker Doug McKelvey?

Published on: September 13, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Our Houston Securities Attorneys and Investment Fraud Attorneys Can Help You Explore Your Legal Options

Beginning August 26, 2022, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has barred former Morgan Stanley broker Doug Marshall McKelvey. The decision comes after the ex-Texas financial advisor refused to provide the information requested by the self-regulatory organization (SRO) in the latter’s inquiry into his firing by the broker-dealer in April 2022.

Morgan Stanley claims that they terminated McKelvey’s employment because he allegedly misappropriated funds from and engaged in unauthorized activities in the accounts of clients. McKelvey has consented to FINRA’s findings resulting in the permanent and indefinite bar.