Articles Tagged with oil and gas investment attorney

shutterstock_143094109-300x200According to BrokerCheck records financial advisor James Lowther (Lowther), employed by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (Merrill Lynch), has been subject to two customer complaints.  According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Lowther has been accused by a customers of unsuitable investment advice concerning various investment products including energy stocks that likely include 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.

The most recent claim was filed in August 2017 and alleges unauthorized trading, unsuitable investment recommendations, and misrepresentation and omission of material facts from November 2010 to July 2017.  The customer claimed $300,000 in damages and the claim is currently pending.

In July 2016 another customer alleged that Lowther engaged in unauthorized trading, unsuitable investment recommendations, failure to follow instructions, and misrepresentation and omission of material facts from January 2013 to July 2016.  The customer claims $1,000,000 in damages and the claim is currently pending.

shutterstock_62862913-259x300The 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.  One particularly hard hit area of the commodities bust have been oil private placements sold by many brokerage firms.  Once private placement that has come under scrutiny by the SEC are the Coachman Energy and Bakken Drilling private placements.

The SEC settled an action where the agency alleged that Coachman Energy Partners LLC failed to adequately disclose its methodology for calculating the management fees and expenses it charged to the funds from 2011 through 2014.  The SEC found that the investment adviser for four private placement oil and gas funds miscalculated by approximately $1.1 million in management fees and $449,000 in management-related expenses.  In addition, the SEC found that Randall Kenworthy, the firm’s CEO, caused Coachman’s inadequate disclosures in documents and in Coachman’s ADV Forms.  Further, there were undisclosed conflicts of interests as one of the funds entered into a transaction with an affiliated entity without proper disclosure or obtaining investor consent.

Bakken Income Fund has raised $20.6 million from 309 investors.  As part of the settlement, Coachman agreed to disgorge over $2 million.  Coachman and Kenworthy are believed to be involved with the following private placement investments:

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