Securities Lawyers Blog
Currently financial advisor Robert Patti (Patti), currently employed by brokerage firm LPL Financial LLC has been subject to at least one disclosable event. These events include one customer complaint. 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 $250,000.00 on November 27, 2020.
Products under DDPs include non-traded REITs, oil and gas offerings, equipment leasing investments, and a range of other alternative financial instruments. With high fees and costs, these alternative investments are usually inappropriate for investors and rarely provide meaningful returns. 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.