losses

For Investors Who Were Sold XIV Securities by Their Credit Suisse Broker

February 6, 2018 | by Andrew Stoltmann

Did your Credit Suisse broker recommend to you The VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term (XIV) exchange-traded note (ETN) to you? If so, you may be able to recover your losses with this security on a contingency fee basis in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration forum. XIV supposedly gives the opposite return of the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), which is the market’s turbulence gauge, and is supposed to bet on calm markets. It and its sister fund, ZIV, are designed to go up when the volatility of the S&P 500 goes down. XIV was issued by Credit Suisse, slumped almost 4 percent on Tuesday morning, and closed down 93 percent on the same day, losing nearly 100 percent of its value. Many exchange-traded securities that are also supposed to be bets on calm markets were halted Tuesday, after losing the majority of their value overnight.

According to the XIV fund’s prospectus: “The ETNs, and in particular the 2x Long ETNs, are intended to be trading tools for sophisticated investors to manage daily trading risks…The ETNs are riskier than securities that have intermediate or long-term investment objectives, and may not be suitable for investors who plan to hold them for longer than one day.”

XIV is down more than 80 percent in extended trading as of yesterday, because of its popularity with hedge funds betting on an ever-calm market. Because of the market decline, fear has sparked among some traders that violent declines in ETNs like XIV would cause market volatility measures to spike further. It also raised fears of even bigger losses from hedge funds and other investors holding this security, as they may not be able to sell.

Did You Lose Money in Woodbridge Group? How To Recover Your Losses

December 6, 2017 | by Andrew Stoltmann

Stoltmann Law Offices is investigating the Woodbridge Group of Companies, a southern California real estate and investment company, which has allegedly raised over $1 billion from investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating it to determine whether the company has been operating as a fraud. The company’s president, Robert Shapiro, is also being investigated. The SEC is “investigating the offer and sale of unregistered securities, the sale of securities by unregistered brokers and the commission of fraud in connection with the offer, purchase and sale of securities.” According to Woodbridge’s website, the group, Woodbridge Wealth, sells three types of investment: first position commercial mortgages with an annual yield of 5%, secondary market annuities with above average, risk adjusted yields, and a commercial bridge loan fund that potentially returns 6%.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) website, BrokerCheck, there is no broker-dealer named Woodbridge Wealth. If your broker recommended or sold to you Woodbridge Wealth, please call our securities law firm today at 312-332-4200 in order to speak to an attorney about your losses. We are based in Chicago, Illinois and we help investors recover their investment losses on a contingency fee basis, which means we only get paid if you recover your losses. The call is free with no obligation. We sue firms in the FINRA arbitration forum. Your brokerage firm may be liable for investment losses, as the firm has a reasonably duty to oversee its brokers while they are employed there.

This blog posting is not affiliated with, maintained, authorized, endorsed or sponsored by the Woodbridge International, Inc. (“Woodbridge”), or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial website. All information contained on this site is Unofficial.

If You Were Sold MLPs by Your RBC Capital Markets Broker, You May Be Able To Recover Your Losses

November 16, 2017 | by Andrew Stoltmann

AdobeStock_66548440-1-300x169 This week, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel comprised of three arbitrators, ordered RBC Capital Markets, and its broker, Bruce Cameron, to pay a former client $723,000 for losses sustained. The client was an elderly woman, and her portfolio suffered losses because of an overconcentration of oil and gas master limited partnerships (MLP) which included:

Breitburn Energy Partners

Enable Mistream Partners

Investor Update: William Heiden and Unsuitable Oil and Gas Investment Claims

October 27, 2017 | by Andrew Stoltmann

Stoltmann Law Offices continues to investigate William Heiden, a Wedbush Securities registered broker, who has been subject to nine customer complaints. Allegedly, Mr. Heiden, according to a claim filed in June 2017, breached his fiduciary duty, committed violation of industry rules, and financial elder abuse causing $855,299 in losses. The claim is currently pending. He was also previously accused of making unsuitable investments in a client’s account causing $950,718 in losses. Some of the recommendations were in oil and gas investments. Before a broker can recommend or sell a security such as this, he must do his due diligence on the security in order to determine that it is suitable and appropriate for the client, by taking into account his age, net worth, investment sophistication and investment risk tolerance, among other factors. If he does not, his brokerage firm may be liable for losses on a contingency fee basis. The brokerage firm has a duty to reasonably supervise its employees.

Oil and gas and energy investments can be highly illiquid and risky investments, because of the drop in the price of oil since last year. Many investors have lost money because of unsuitable placements by their brokers in these investments. William Mark Heiden was previously registered with Crowell, Weedon & Co. in Los Angeles, California from June 1997 until September 2000, Sutro & Co. in San Francisco, California from September 2000 until March 2002, RBC Dain Rauscher in Newport Beach, California from March 2002 until April 2007, Morgan Stanley in Newport Beach from April 2007 until June 2009 and Morgan Stanley in Newport Beach from June 2009 until August 2013. He is currently registered with Wedbush Securities in Newport Beach and has been since August 2013. He has nine customer disputes against him, two of which are currently pending. This is according to his online, BrokerCheck report with FINRA. It is public record.

Richard Shotz; Morgan Stanley; Ormond Beach, Florida

October 23, 2017 | by Andrew Stoltmann

If you or someone you know invested money with Richard Shotz, a former broker with Morgan Stanley, you may be able to recover your investment losses on a contingency fee basis in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). According to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with FINRA, Mr. Shotz was accused of engaging in an unsuitable pattern of short-term trading of unit investment trusts (UITs) in 486 customer accounts. Shotz allegedly repeatedly recommended that the customers purchase UITs and then sell these products well before their maturity dates. The majority of them had maturity dates of at least 24 months and carried sales charges. Shotz continually recommended that his customers sell their UIT positions less than a year after purchase. The average holding period for these was 143 days. On 1,200 occasions, Shotz recommended that his customers use the proceeds from the short-term sale of a UIT to purchase another UIT with identical investment objectives. For this, he was suspended from the industry for four months and fined $7,500.

A broker must take into account a customer’s age, net worth, investment objectives and investment risk tolerance before recommending or selling an investment and must do his due diligence on the product. If he does not, his brokerage firm may be liable for losses on a contingency fee basis. UITs are not suitable for every customer because they can be illiquid and risky investments. You may be able to bring a claim against Morgan Stanley for not reasonably supervising its brokers.

Richard Shotz was previously registered with Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida from July 1987 until February 1994, Citigroup Global Markets in Ormond Beach, Florida from February 1994 until September 2008, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. in Ormond Beach from August 2008 until June 2009 and Morgan Stanley in Ormond Beach from June 2009 until October 2015. He is currently registered with Wells Fargo in Daytona Beach, Florida and has been since October 2015. He has five customer disputes against him, alleging misrepresentations, unsuitable investments, and other things, all against securities laws and internal firm rules. This is according to his public, online BrokerCheck report with FINRA.

Update For Investors: Jeffrey Dragon

October 19, 2017 | by Andrew Stoltmann

According to an Order with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Jeffrey Dragon, while registered with Berthel, Fisher & Co., as a broker, allegedly violated securities laws. Mr. Dragon was accused of recommending and engaging in short-term unit investment trust (UIT) trading in 19 accounts belonging to 12 of his customers. This occurred over a two-year period between 2013 and 2014. Over the two-year period, Dragon’s UIT trading in the customer’s accounts involved a total of 666 UIT purchases in 84 UITs, of which 73 were offered by Guggenheim Funds Distributors. His recommendations for the customers were to purchase UITs during their initial offering periods, liquidate them before the end of their term, usually after holding them for six months or less and using the proceeds from this liquidation to purchase other UITs, thereby incurring new sales charges.

In one instance, Dragon recommended that an 81-year-old customer make 177 separate UIT purchases during the two-year period. Of those, four positions were held for four days or fewer, 76 additional positions were liquidated 60 or fewer days after purchase, another 89 positions were liquidated between 61 and 90 days after purchase, only four positions were held for longer than 120 days and zero were held for longer than 294 days. Another 84 year-old client was recommended 82 UIT purchases, with similar holding periods. Only 20 of the UIT positions that resulted from the purchases were held for longer than one year or to termination. For this misconduct, Mr. Dragon was suspended from associating with a FINRA member in any capacity for 21 months and fined $5,000.

A broker must only recommend and sell those investments that are safe for his clients. He does so by doing his due diligence on every investment and by taking into account his customer’s net worth, age, sophistication and risk objectives. If he does not, his brokerage firm may be liable for losses. In this case, many of Mr. Dragon’s clients were elderly and the UITs were not suitable for them. Nor did he hold them for long enough. This resulted in losses for the customers. Berthel, Fisher may be sued in the FINRA arbitration forum on a contingency fee basis for losses.

Former Cambridge Investment Research Broker Ralph Savoie Charged With Fraud

October 9, 2017 | by Andrew Stoltmann

Did you or someone you know lose money with former Cambridge Investment Research broker Ralph Savoie? If so, the attorneys at Stoltmann Law Offices are interested in speaking with you about those losses. Mr. Savoie was charged with one count of wire fraud on December 22^nd, 2017. He was previously with Cambridge Investment Research in Metairie, Louisiana. Mr. Savoie allegedly received $150,000 from investors, which he then spent on jewelry, hotels, cars, credit card bills, rent and restaurants. He falsely told his clients he would invest their money in securities and insurance and would develop industrial cooling towers. Instead, he used the money to write checks to himself and to pay back other investors. This misconduct occurred from January 2013 until March 2016. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) barred him from the industry for these things. They are all against securities laws.

Mr. Savoie was previously registered with The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, Paul Revere Equity Sales, FSC Securities, The Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company, Integrated Resources Equity Corp, Securian Financial Services, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, MetLife Securities, Park Avenue Securities, ING Financial Partners and Cambridge Investment Research in Metairie, Louisiana from July 2013 until September 2015. He has five customer disputes against him, two of which are currently pending. They allege fraud, highly speculative private placements, unsuitable, expensive and illiquid investment sales, violations of securities laws, breach of contract, violations of Louisiana securities laws, breach of fiduciary duty, gross negligence, and investments in unregistered securities, all of which are against securities rules and regulations. He has been permanently barred from the industry, according to his public records with FINRA. A broker must take into account a customer’s net worth, investment objectives, investment sophistication and risk tolerance, and age among other factors, before recommending or selling a security. If he does not, his brokerage firm may be liable for losses.

Can I Recover My Investment Losses With Puma Capital?

October 9, 2017 | by Andrew Stoltmann

You may be able to do so in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration forum if you have suffered losses with Puma Capital. According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with FINRA, Puma Capital allegedly failed to develop and implement an anti-money laundering program that was reasonably designed to achieve and monitor compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and implementing regulations. Specifically, the firm failed to implement policies and procedures that could be reasonably expected to detect and cause the reporting of potentially suspicious activity relating to the liquidation of millions of shares of microcap securities. These are in violation of securities laws and internal firm rules. For this, the firm was fined $70,000 and censured. If you or someone you know suffered money losses with Puma Capital, you may be able to recover them on a contingency fee basis, which means we only get paid if you recover your losses.

Sonya Camarco of LPL Financial

October 7, 2017 | by Andrew Stoltmann

Stoltmann Law Offices is investigating Sonya Camarco, a former LPL broker. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained an emergency court order to freeze her assets in order to prevent her from further dissipating funds she stole from her clients. Allegedly, during a 13-year period, Camarco stole money from her clients’ accounts. She allegedly forged client signatures on checks made out to an entity called “C Investments,” and had the checks sent to a private post office box. She then deposited the checks into a bank account in the name of “Camarco Investments Inc.” an entity of which she was the sole registered agent and which she shares an address with her office. She also allegedly liquidated securities in her clients’ accounts to make unauthorized payments to her own accounts. She then claimed that the C Investments were an outside investment that she made on their behalf and said she had no affiliation with C Investments. This was untrue. The SEC alleges that Camarco used the stolen client funds to pay her personal credit card bills and mortgages.

Camarco was previously registered with Merrill Lynch in New York, New York from December 1993 until July 2000, Morgan Stanley in Purchase, New York from July 2000 until March 2004 and LPL in Colorado Springs, Colorado from February 2004 until August 2017. She is currently not registered within the industry. Please call us today if you suffered losses with Ms. Camarco. We may be able to help you recover those losses on a contingency fee basis.

Update for Burned Investors in DryShips Inc (DRYS)

October 7, 2017 | by Andrew Stoltmann

Did your advisor or stockbroker at a brokerage firm like JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch or Wells Fargo recommend a position in Dryships Inc (DRYS)? Brokers are required to do due diligence on the stocks recommended. Many elderly clients were pitched this investment and have sustained an almost complete loss. For information concerning how you may be able to bring a claim against the brokerage firm that sold you this investment, please call our Chicago and Barrington, Illinois-based securities law firm today in order to speak to an attorney for free. There is no obligation with the call. Attorneys are standing by. We take cases on a contingency fee basis only, which means we only make money if you recover yours.

DRYS is a dry bulk shipping company based in Athens, Greece. It owns a fleet of 13 vessels and owns and operates two deepwater offshore drilling rigs. Stoltmann Law Offices is investigating claims made about DRYS, including those from a Wall Street Journal article entitled “A Shipping Company’s Bizarre Stock Maneuvers Create High Seas Intrigue,” published on July 13th, 2017. According to the article, DRYS “repeatedly printed huge numbers of new shares and sold them to Kalani Investments Ltd. (“Kalani”), a British Virgin Islands firm. Kalani, meanwhile, appears to have earned tens of million by immediately selling the stock, which it purchased at a discount to the stock market price.” Kalani’s alleged failure to register as an underwriter in this case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would constitute a violation of the federal securities laws. This means that many investors who were sold DRYS stock by their broker and brokerage firm, may be entitled to reclaim their losses. Brokers must do their due diligence to make sure that the security they are recommending is suitable for the client, by taking into account many factors, such as the client’s age, net worth, investment objectives and investment sophistication, and must make sure that the investment is sound. If the brokers do not, their investment firms may be liable for losses.