Advisor Alan Dole Subject to Complaints Over Alternative Investments

shutterstock_188874428-300x200Advisor Alan Dole (Dole), currently employed by Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. (Cambridge) has been subject to at least two customer complaints.  According to a BrokerCheck report some of the customer complaints concern alternative investments and direct participation products (DPPs) such as non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), oil & gas programs, annuities, and equipment leasing programs.  The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP have extensive experience handling investor losses caused by these types of products.

In December 2018 a customer filed a complaint alleging that Dole violated the securities laws including the Virginia Securities Act, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, negligent supervision, breach of contract and violation of FINRA rules by recommending oil & gas and insurance related investments causing $348,366 in damages.  The claim is currently pending.

In December 2018 another customer filed a complaint alleging that Dole violated the securities laws including the Virginia Securities Act, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, negligent supervision, breach of contract and violation of FINRA rules by recommending oil & gas and insurance related investments causing $497,691 in damages.  The claim is currently pending.

Our firm often handles cases involving direct participation products, Non-Traded REITs, oil and gas offerings, equipment leasing products, and other alternative investments.  These products are almost always unsuitable for investors.  In addition, the brokers who sell them are paid additional commission in order to hype inferior quality investments which provides a perverse incentives by brokers to create an artificial market for products that no honest advisor would sell.

According to studies, non-traded REITs have historically have underperformed even safe benchmarks, like U.S. treasury bonds – meaning that non-traded REITs provide paltry investment returns considering the risk an investor takes.  Alternative investment products like oil and gas partnerships, REITs, and equipment leasing programs are rarely, if ever, appropriate for investors due to their high costs, illiquidity, high risks, and huge redemption charges of the products, if they can be redeemed at all.  Investors often fail to understand that they have lost money until many years after agreeing to the investment.

Unfortunately, due to the high commissions brokers earn on these products they sell them to investors who cannot profit from them.  These products have become so popular among brokers without providing any benefit to investors that many states now limit investors from investing more than 10% of their liquid assets in Non-Traded REITs.  Many states impose these limitations because its understood that that they provide virtually no benefit to investors in relationship to their risks.

Dole entered the securities industry in 2005.  Since November 2011 Dole has been registered with Cambridge Investment out of the firm’s Henrico, Virginia office location.

Investors who have suffered losses are encouraged to contact us at (800) 810-4262 for consultation.  At Gana Weinstein LLP, our attorneys are experienced representing investors who have suffered securities losses due to the mishandling of their accounts.  Claims may be brought in securities arbitration before FINRA.  Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.

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