Securities Lawyers Blog

Ameriprise Financial Advisor Jeffrey McHale Has Customer Complaints

April 16, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating BrokerCheck records reports that financial advisor Jeffrey McHale (McHale), currently employed by Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC (Ameriprise) has been subject to at least three customer complaints during the course of his career. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), McHale’s customer complaints alleges that McHale recommended unsuitable investments in various investments including allegations of concentrations in biotech stocks and low cap stocks among other allegations of misconduct relating to the handling of their accounts.

In December 2019 a customer complained that McHale violated the securities laws by alleging that McHale made investments recommendations in unsuitable investments including pharmaceutical and biotech stocks while at Ameriprise from 2015 through 2019. The investors also allege that their accounts were overconcentrated and certain transactions were marked unsolicited despite being recommended by respondent advisor. The claim alleges $655,000 in damages and is currently pending.

In December 2018 a customer complained that McHale violated the securities laws by alleging that McHale made investments recommendations in unsuitable investments. The investors allege that respondent recommended a high concentration of equity securities, did not recommend bonds and instead recommended low priced low market cap securities. The claim alleges $180,000 in damages and is currently pending.

Rodney Potratz Has Complaint Over Alternative Investment Sales Practices

April 16, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

Advisor Rodney Potratz (Potratz), currently employed by FSC Securities Corporation (FSC Securities), has been subject to at least two customer complaints during the course of his career. According to a BrokerCheck report one of the customer complaints concern alternative investments such as direct participation products (DPPs) like non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), oil & gas programs, and private placements. Potratz discloses that he operates a number of outside businesses, some of which are investment related, including Stonebridge Financial Advisors and Diversified Financial Advisory Group. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP have represented hundreds of investors who suffered losses caused by these types of high risk, low reward products.

In November 2019 a customer complained that Potratz violated the securities laws by alleging that Potratz engaged in sales practice violations related to recommending various alternative investments were inappropriately recommended. The claim alleges $6,000,000 and is currently pending.

DDPs include products such as non-traded REITs, oil and gas offerings, equipment leasing products, and other alternative investments. These alternative investments virtually never profit investors and are almost always unsuitable for investors because of their high fee and cost structure. Brokers selling these products are paid additional commission in order to hype these inferior quality investments providing a perverse incentives to create an artificial market for the investments.

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.

Enrique Lopez Has Complaints Over Alternative Investments

April 14, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

Advisor Enrique Lopez (Lopez), currently employed by Arkadios Capital, has been subject to at least four customer complaints during the course of his career. According to a BrokerCheck report the customer complaints concern alternative investments such as direct participation products (DPPs) like non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), oil & gas programs, and private placements. Lopez discloses that he operates a number of outside businesses, some of which are investment related, including Cristobal Eden Partners, LLC, Lopez Brothers Distribution, LLC, Gallop Investment Partners, LLC, Cordero Diego, LLC, and Texas Regional Bank. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP have represented hundreds of investors who suffered losses caused by these types of high risk, low reward products.

In January 2020 a customer complained that Lopez violated the securities laws by alleging that Lopez engaged in sales practice violations related to recommending investments that were not suitable including non-traded REITs. The claim is currently pending.

In June 2019 a customer complained that Lopez violated the securities laws by alleging that Lopez engaged in sales practice violations related to between 2014 and 2016 advisor misrepresented and recommended unsuitable, concentrated investments in speculative real estate investment trusts. The investor also alleged that the advisor recommended an unsuitable annuity switch. The claim seeks $2,000,000 in damages and is currently pending.

DDPs include products such as non-traded REITs, oil and gas offerings, equipment leasing products, and other alternative investments. These alternative investments virtually never profit investors and are almost always unsuitable for investors because of their high fee and cost structure. Brokers selling these products are paid additional commission in order to hype these inferior quality investments providing a perverse incentives to create an artificial market for the investments. Continue Reading

Advisor Murray Roark Alleged to Have Recommended Unsuitable Energy Securities

April 14, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

According to BrokerCheck records financial advisor Murray Roark (Roark), currently employed by B. Riley Wealth Management (B. Riley Wealth), has been subject to at least five customer complaints during the course of his career. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Roark has been accused by multiple customers of unsuitable investment advice concerning various investment products including energy stocks most likely including energy related investments like master limited partnerships (MLPs). The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP continue to report on investor related losses and potential legal remedies due to recommendations to investor in oil and gas and commodities related investments.

In May 2019 a customer filed a complaint alleging that Roark violated the securities laws by engaging in, among other violations, from June 2013 to April 2017 the broker engaged in breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, negligent supervision, unsuitable recommendations and concentration in the energy sector. The claim alleges $300,000 in damages and is currently pending.

In February 2016 a customer filed a complaint alleging that Roark violated the securities laws by engaging in, among other violations, that there was a lack of diversification, over concentration, and misrepresentation. The dates of alleged activities are October 2014 through December 2015. The claim alleges $303,950 and was settled for $275,000.

Our firm handles claims and is also investigating securities claims against brokerage firms over sales practices related to the recommendations of oil & gas and commodities products such as exchange traded notes (ETNs), structured notes, private placements, master limited partnerships (MLPs), leveraged ETFs, mutual funds, and individual stocks.

Timothy Vanlohuizen Has Complaints Over Alternative Investments

April 13, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

Advisor Timothy Vanlohuizen (Vanlohuizen), currently employed by SagePoint Financial, Inc. (SagePoint Financial) has been subject to at least seven customer complaints during the course of his career. According to a BrokerCheck report the customer complaints concern alternative investments such as direct participation products (DPPs) like non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), oil & gas programs, 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.

In February 2020 a customer complained that Vanlohuizen violated the securities laws by alleging that Vanlohuizen engaged in sales practice violations related to recommending unsuitable investments. The claim seeks $100,000 and is currently pending.

In May 2019 a customer complained that Vanlohuizen violated the securities laws by alleging that Vanlohuizen engaged in sales practice violations related to recommending negligence, unsuitable investments, misrepresentations, and breach of fiduciary duty related to oil and gas investments and precious metals. The claim seeks $350,000 and is currently pending.

DDPs include products such as non-traded REITs, oil and gas offerings, equipment leasing products, and other alternative investments. These alternative investments virtually never profit investors and are almost always unsuitable for investors because of their high fee and cost structure. Brokers selling these products are paid additional commission in order to hype these inferior quality investments providing a perverse incentives to create an artificial market for the investments. Continue Reading

Gana Weinstein LLP Files Complaint On Behalf of Clients Alleging William Fox Sold Unsuitable Alternative Investments

April 13, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

The securities lawyers of Gana Weinstein LLP recently filed a complaint on behalf of a client alleging that William Fox (Fox) and The Fox Alliance, registered with New England Securities (now MML Investors Services LLC) and First Allied Securities, Inc., (First Allied) and the firms failed to supervise Fox’s recommendations and investment activity in alternative investments. The complaint alleges that Fox constructed an investment plan for the Claimants that violated multiple securities laws.

Claimants trusted their investment advisor to prudently invest their income savings that was to be used for their retirement. Fox’s website boasts that the firm’s definition means “a collaboration designed with the intent of leveraging expertise, increasing returns and/or appropriately reducing risk for the parties involved.” Further, Fox claims to provide investors with “institutional caliber investments.”

However, the Claimants alleged that in fact Fox did the exact opposite of what he claims and abused Claimants’ trust by recommending an investment strategy consisting of large concentrations in illiquid, low-quality, speculative, high commission alternative investments that no institution would ever touch. For more than a decade the claim stated that Fox recommended that Claimants invest over $2 million in illiquid securities such as non-traded real estate investment trusts (Non-Traded REITs), private placements, equipment leasing programs, oil and gas programs, and annuities. Of the nearly $3 million Claimants gave Fox to invest the vast majority ended up in these types of programs.

Advisor Antonio Puente Barred Over Outside Business Activities – Investor Recovery

April 12, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

The law offices of Gana Weinstein LLP are currently investigating claims that advisor Antonio Puente (Puente) has been accused by a securities regulator of potentially engaging in the sales of private securities among other allegations. Puente was barred by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) concerning his private securities sales conduct. According to BrokerCheck records, Puente was formerly registered with FINRA member firm Valic Financial Advisors, Inc. (Valic Financial). If you have been a victim of Puente’s alleged misconduct our firm may be able to assist you in recovering funds.

In August 2018 Valic Financial terminated Puente alleging that he was terminated following conclusion of investigation into undisclosed outside business activity. Then in January 2020 FINRA found that Puente consented to sanctions and findings that he refused to provide testimony requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation into whether he potentially violated FINRA rules by engaging in undisclosed outside business activities and/or private securities transactions.

According to Puente’s publicly disclosed records the he has no disclosed outside business activities.

Our law firm has significant experience bringing cases on behalf of defrauded victims when their advisors engage in receiving loans from clients or selling securities sales through OBAs. The sale of unapproved investment products – is a practice known in the industry as “selling away” – a serious violation of the securities laws. In the industry the term selling away refers to when a financial advisor solicits investments in companies, promissory notes, or other securities that are not pre-approved by the broker’s affiliated firm. Sometimes those investments have some legitimacy but often times these types of investments can end up being Ponzi schemes or the advisor can be engaging in the conversion of funds. Continue Reading

Advisor Darren Oglesby Has Potential Complaint Regarding GPB Capital

April 12, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

Advisor Darren Oglesby (Oglesby), currently employed by Money Concepts Capital Corp. (Money Concepts) has been subject to at least four customer complaints during the course of his career. According to a BrokerCheck report one of the customer complaints that may concern fraudulent GPB Capital Holdings (GPB Capital) related investments.

GPB Capital is facing multiple accusations of being a Ponzi scheme, an ongoing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FBI investigations, and even GPB’s chief compliance officier being indicted for illegally obtaining information on the SEC’s investigation. Now even Volkswagen and Toyota are threatening to pull the plug on GPB Capital auto dealerships. While advisors have been telling investors to do absolutely nothing and just hang in there – this is nothing more than just additional poor advice. In November 2019 GPB Capital’s admitted that no financial audit would occur anytime in the near future. The firm has admitted that it has never been profitable and has merely returned investor capital in the past in order to fake a successful business model. In sum, investors now know there is nothing to hang onto. By the day, advisor recommendations to do nothing appear to be completely self-serving, out of the loop, and not in the interest of the investor.

In August 2019 a customer complained that Oglesby violated the securities laws by alleging that Hoidas engaged in sales practice violations related to a claim with FINRA that an investment was an unsuitable product, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The claim alleges $100,000 in damages and is currently pending.

Broker Charles Evan Subject to Regulatory and Customer Complaints Over Annuity Practices

April 7, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

According to BrokerCheck records financial advisor Charles Evan (Evan), formerly employed by MML Investors Services, LLC (MML Investors) has been subject to five customer complaints, one regulatory action, and one employment termination for cause during his career. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), many of the customer complaints against Walker concern allegations over various annuities, insurance, and variable annuity sales practices.

In October 2019 MML Investors terminated Evan alleging inappropriate traditional insurance sales practices. Thereafter, FINRA investigated Evan, and in January 2020, FINRA found that Evan consented to the sanction and findings that he refused to provide documents and information requested by FINRA in connection with allegations concerning inappropriate traditional insurance sales practices.

In March 2020 a client complained that Evan violated the securities laws alleging that after meeting with Evan in 2017, he sold her several variable annuities that were found to be unsuitable for her needs. The customer alleged $157,370 in damages. The claim is currently pending.

In February 2020 a client complained that Evan violated the securities laws alleging that beginning in 2008, Evan made misrepresentations, and provided bad investment advice on the sales of various products, which resulted in a financial loss. The claim is currently pending.

Nationwide Planning Advisor Jeremy Rosen Has Customer Complaints

April 7, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating BrokerCheck records reports that financial advisor Jeremy Rosen (Rosen), currently employed by Nationwide Planning Associates Inc. (Nationwide Planning) has been subject to at least four customer complaints during the course of his career. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Rosen’s customer complaints alleges that Rosen recommended unsuitable investments in various investments among other allegations of misconduct relating to the handling of their accounts.

In March 2020 a customer complained that Rosen violated the securities laws by alleging that Rosen made investments in 2016 through 2019 that were unsuitable and misrepresented to them. The clients also alleged that the firm failed to supervise the actions of Rosen. The claim is currently pending.

In January 2020 a customer complained that Rosen violated the securities laws by alleging that Rosen made investments in 2016 through 2019 that were unsuitable and misrepresented to them. The clients also alleged that the firm failed to supervise the actions of Rosen. The claim seeks $140,000 in damages and is currently pending.

In July 2019 a customer complained that Rosen violated the securities laws by alleging that Rosen made investments in 2016 through 2019 recklessly which has jeopardized their family’s future. The claim is currently pending.