Currently financial advisor Louie Ucciferri (Ucciferri), currently employed by brokerage firm Camden Financial Services / Edgeline Capital, LLC. / Lightpath Capital, Inc has been subject to at least 2 disclosable events. These events include 2 customer complaints. According to a BrokerCheck reports most of the recent customer complaints concern either corporate debt securities or alternative investments such as direct participation products (DPPs) like business development companies (BDCs), non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), oil & gas programs, annuities, and private placements. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP have represented hundreds of investors who suffered losses caused by these types of high risk, low reward products.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint with a damage request of $696,494.19 on May 19, 2023.
Claimants collectively invested $697,474.19 in real estate private placement between November 2019 and February 2020 which failed due to the due to the unforeseen and unprecedented impact of the COVID pandemic on the student housing sector and the sponsor’s failure to repay the bridge equity it borrowed to acquire the property, which was discovered in December 2021, and ultimately resulted in a forced sale of the property. Claimants filed an arbitration alleging violation of federal securities laws, violation of California securities laws, California unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices, breach of contract, common law fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and gross negligence. The firm denies all allegations. Additionally, the firm aggressively facilitated litigation for the benefit of investors to recover losses for investors which resulted in a favorable settlement with the sponsor and a jury award against the bridge equity lender and investors have already received a partial return of their initial investment.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows a settled customer complaint on December 22, 2022.
Claimants collectively invested $2,034,006 in a real estate private placement between October 2019 and March 2020 which failed due to the unforeseen and unprecedented impact of the COVID pandemic on the student housing sector and the sponsor’s failure to repay the bridge equity it borrowed to acquire the property, which was discovered in December 2021, and ultimately resulted in a forced sale of the property. Claimants filed an arbitration alleging violation of federal securities laws, violation of California securities laws, California unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices, breach of contract, common law fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and gross negligence. The firm denies all allegations. Additionally, the firm aggressively facilitated litigation for the benefit of investors to recover losses for investors which resulted in a favorable settlement with the sponsor and a jury award against the bridge equity lender.
DDPs feature investment options like non-traded REITs, oil and gas projects, equipment leasing products, and other alternative assets. Investors almost never benefit from these alternative investments, which are typically inappropriate due to their steep fees and costs. By offering brokers extra commissions, firms incentivize the sale of poor-quality investments, ultimately leading to a manipulated market driven by artificial demand.
Several studies have confirmed that Non-traded REITs underperform publicly traded REITs with some showing that Non-Traded REITs cannot even beat safe benchmarks, like U.S. treasury bonds. Brokers selling these products must disclose to the investor that non-traded REITs provide lower investment returns than treasuries while being high risk and illiquid – but almost never do. Because investors are not compensated with additional return in exchange for higher risk and illiquidity, these kinds of alternative investment products are rarely, if ever, appropriate for investors.
Brokers have a responsibility treat investors fairly which includes obligations such as making only suitable investments for the client after conducting due diligence. Due diligence includes an investigation into the investment’s properties including its benefits, risks, tax consequences, issuer, history, and other relevant factors. Appropriate due diligence would identify that an alternative investment’s high costs, illiquidity, and conflicts of interests that would make the investment not suitable for investors. Investors often fail to understand that they have lost money until many years after agreeing to the investment. In sum, for all of their costs and risks, investors in these programs are in no way additionally compensated for the loss of liquidity, risks, or cost.
Unfortunately, these types of alternative investment products continue to popular among brokers due to their high commissions. In order to counter the perverse incentives to sell these flawed product many states now limit investors from investing more than 10% of their liquid assets in Non-Traded REITs and BDCs. Many states impose these limitations because these investments do not benefit investors.
Ucciferri entered the securities industry in 1984. Ucciferri has been registered as a Broker with Camden Financial Services / Edgeline Capital, LLC. / Lightpath Capital, Inc since 1998.
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.