Securities Fraud Attorneys Blog
Chicago-based Stoltmann Law Offices has represented investors who’ve suffered losses from dealing with RBC brokers who have oversold energy stocks and other energy-related investments. Although these days energy stocks are among the worst investments to own – the pandemic and oil & gas glut have severely depressed demand — prior to this year brokers had been aggressively pitching petroleum-producing companies. Brokers who aggressively sold energy stocks knew how volatile the energy sector has become, yet filled investors’ portfolios with oil and gas issues. Thousands of investors have legitimate claims against their advisors for overselling unsuitable investments.
Companies that once were opening drilling operations at a breakneck pace are facing bankruptcy as the slump in the industry worsens. Investors who bought individual energy stocks, exchange-traded or mutual funds are feeling the pain.Most recently, investors filed claims against RBC brokers Joseph Ijong Chu and Christopher Lawrence Phillips, who worked at the firm’s Stamford, Connecticut, office. The brokers face investor claims of more than $2 million for reportedly selling “unsuitable investments in oil-producing and industrial metals & materials stocks leading to an over-concentration in those sectors.”
One claim against Chu alleges the broker sold $1.6 million in energy investments to a client between Sept. 18, 2018, through Jan. 20, 2020. The complaint states that the stocks not only declined in value, but were “outside their [customers’] investment objectives.” A separate, $500,000 claim against Chu, filed in July, 2020, alleged he “misrepresented the risk of allocation in energy and material sectors investments and over concentrated the Claimant’s accounts in highly volatile investments.”
