Investor Lawyers Blog

Ex-Cetera Investment Services Broker May Have Unsuitably Recommended Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) to Customers

Published on: May 17, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former California Registered Representative is Named in Pending $2.3M Northstar Bermuda Claim

Ching-Yun Linda Fang, also known as Linda Fang, is an ex-Cetera Investment Services stockbroker and investment advisor who may have unsuitably recommended to customers that they invest in Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) investment products. The Bermuda-based company, which is no longer solvent, filed for bankruptcy protection last year and now must liquidate.

Our investment fraud lawyers are investigating customer claims of losses involving Linda Fang or any other Cetera Investment Services financial advisor. You may have grounds for a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim to recover damages.

Ex-LPL Financial Broker Matthew Clason Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Elderly Investor of $600K

Published on: May 14, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Barred Connecticut Financial Advisor Faces Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

Matthew O. Clason, a former LPL Financial broker, has pleaded guilty to wire transfer fraud related to his misappropriation of $600K from a 73-year-old Connecticut retiree. Now he could be sentenced to up to 20 years behind bars. The theft is from when Clason worked with the senior investor as a registered representative with LPL Financial and before that with Lincoln Financial Advisors.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) barred Clason in September 2020 right after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed parallel charges against him. The brokerage firm had fired Clason the month before, as did Integrated Wealth Concepts where he was a registered investment adviser.

Ex-SagePoint Financial Broker Dan Dillard Sold GPB Private Placements to Customers

Published on: May 13, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Texas Stockbroker Founded Nest Financial in Austin

Our GPB private placement lawyers are investigating investment losses suffered by former customers of ex-SagePoint Financial registered representative, Daniel G. Dillard. Although he is no longer a registered broker, Dillard remains a registered investment advisor and the founder of Nest Financial in Austin.

He is currently named in two pending customer disputes, including one Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration case over private placements in which the claimants are seeking $1.5M in damages.

O.N. Equity Sales Fined $1.3M Over Broker’s Unsuitable Investing Strategy

Published on: May 11, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ohio National Financial Services Broker-Dealer Accused of Failing to Properly Supervise

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that brokerage firm O.N. Equity Sales Co., an Ohio National Financial Services brokerage firm, must pay a $1.3M penalty for not adequately supervising a former broker who is accused of recommending an unsuitable investment strategy to customers.

The strategy involved whole life insurance policies and variable annuities (VAs). The former O.N. Equity Sales broker is no longer with the firm. He arrived at a separate settlement with the self-regulatory organization (SRO).

Customer of UBS Broker Andrew Burish Seeks $23M Over Tesla Stock Losses

Published on: May 10, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

UBS Financial Broker Runs The Burish Group in the Midwest

If you are an investor who suffered losses while working with UBS broker Andrew Burish, please contact our broker fraud attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com).

Burish is considered a top UBS financial advisor who is head of The Burish Group in Madison, Wisconsin. He is accused of repeatedly recommending the short-selling of Tesla, Inc. shares, causing over $23M in losses for four couples, who are all related, and another investor. Tesla is an electric vehicle and clean energy company founded by billionaire Elon Musk.

Brokers May Have Unsuitably Recommended Lodging Fund REIT III

Published on: May 7, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

SEC Looks at Reimbursements Made to Legendary Capital REIT III

If your financial advisor recommended that you invest in Lodging Fund REIT III and you suffered losses, you may have grounds for a broker fraud claim to recover damages.

The publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) disclosed in a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that since December 2020 the latter has been looking into certain reimbursements made to Legendary Capital REIT III, LLC, as well as at disclosures involving reimbursement procedures and policies.

Bank Losses From Archegos Collapse Exceed $10B After UBS and Morgan Stanley Report $861M and $911M Losses, Respectively

Published on: May 5, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

More Fallout From Hedge Fund’s Sell-Off

A month after Archegos Capital Management (Archegos), a hedge fund and the family office of Bill Hwang, liquidated more than $30 Billion in equities when banks ordered it to post more collateral after borrowing on margin, news about the fallout continues.

UBS Group has finally disclosed that it lost $861 Million as a result of exposure to Archegos. Morgan Stanley also recently announced that it sustained $644 Million in losses from a “credit event” and $267 Million in related trading involving Archegos.

Retiree Who Worked With Ex-Kestra Investment Services Broker James Daughtry Seeks Up To $500K in Damages

Published on: May 4, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Alabama Investor Contends The Daughtry Group Owner Unsuitably Invested His Retirement Funds

Another investor has stepped forward to file a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against Kestra Investment Services over financial losses sustained while working with the firm’s former broker, James Blake Daughtry. The latter ran a local office in Dothan, Alabama known as The Daughtry Group. FINRA barred Daughtry and Kestra fired him last year.

The claimant, a senior investor, contends that Kestra failed to properly supervise Daughtry, whom he accuses of making fraudulent and unauthorized transactions in his account. As a result, this retiree lost $232K. He is seeking up to $500K in damages.

Customer Says David Lerner Associates Broker Lawrence Merl Unsuitably Recommended Energy 11, LP

Published on: May 3, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Claimant Suffered Significant Losses in Non-Traded Oil and Gas Investment

An investor recently filed a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against the brokerage firm, David Lerner Associates for losses he sustained in the Energy 11, LP, an oil and gas private placement that many of the firm’s brokers have sold exclusively to customers.

This claimant worked, specifically, with David Lerner Associates broker Lawrence Merl, whom he says that the broker-dealer failed to properly supervise.

Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) Investor Seeks Up to $5M in Damages from Hancock Whitney Investment Services

Published on: April 28, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Central American Retiree Worked with Louisiana-based Financial Advisor Robin Platt

In his Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against Hancock Whitney Investment Services, Inc., a senior investor in Central America is seeking up to $5M in damages. The senior investor suffered losses when he invested $1.25M in Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) at the recommendation of Hancock Whitney Investment Services broker, Robin Platt.

The claimant, a longtime Hancock Whitney Bank client, had mostly invested in bank products and kept his money in checking/savings accounts. In 2016, Platt recommended the Bermuda-based investment, which would go on to make up the majority of the retiree’s portfolio.