An alternative investment fraud settlement has been reached between Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, in which the independent broker-dealer will pay $9.5M. The tribe had filed an arbitration claim contending that it didn’t know that it was paying the firm millions of dollars…
Articles Posted in Non-Traded REITs
REIT Investors Suffer Major Losses
Trouble is brewing with a number of nontraded real estate investment trusts (REITs) and now, investors are filing claims for their losses. One of the REITs, NorthStar Healthcare Income, Inc., suspended distributions to investors on February 1. Closed to new subscriptions since December 2015, the publicly registered REIT was set…
NorthStar Healthcare REIT Investors Suffer Losses as Income Distributions Are Suspended
If you are an investor in NorthStar Healthcare Income, you very likely received a letter last month notifying you that monthly distributions from this investment have been suspended. According to NorthStar’s board, the publicly registered nontraded real estate investment trust’s (nontraded REIT) portfolio has been undergoing “operational and performance challenges”…
Real Estate Investment Trust Cases: SII to Repay Clients Who Bought Non-traded REITs, Trustmont Financial Group is Ordered to Pay Client $1M, and Vereit Settles with More Investors Over Accounting Fraud Claims Against ARCP
SII Investments to Pay Back Clients Over Nontraded REITs Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is ordering SII Investments Inc. to repay clients who purchased non-traded real estate investment trusts through the independent brokerage firm. According to Galvin’s office, SII did not properly supervise these transactions. It was…
Mid Atlantic Capital Ordered to Pay Couple $922K Over KBS-Sponsored NonTraded REITs, Sonoma Ridge Partners Private Placement and Exchange-Traded Fund Investments
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Panel is ordering Mid Atlantic Capital Corp. to pay David Wellman and Beverly Bien $922K. The married couple sued the independent brokerage firm for losses they sustained after they invested in Sonoma Ridge Partners (a real estate private placement), KBS-sponsored nontraded REITs, silver and gold exchange-traded…
Securities Fraud Cases: VFG Securities Settles With FINRA Over Nontraded REIT Sales, Massachusetts Seeks To Ban Trader and His Software Company, and Utah Man Who Bilked Over 5,700 in $25M Fraud Gets Prison Sentence
Broker-Dealer Owner and His Firm Settle SEC Case Alleging Overconcentration of Investor Money In Illiquid Investments Jason Vanclef and his brokerage firm VFG Securities Inc. have settled the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s case accusing them of not adequately supervising their brokers so that clients’ portfolios did not end up concentrated…
Texas Securities Cases: IMS Securities to Pay $100K Over Variable Annuity Exchanges, State Regulator Bans Broker from Making Nontraded REIT Recommendations, and Former Dallas Billionaire Sam Wyly to Pay $198M To Settle Fraud Case
Texas-Based Brokerage Firm Accused of Inadequate Supervision Involving VA Exchanges The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is ordering IMS Securities Inc. to pay a $100K fine. The Texas-based brokerage firm is accused of failures related to its monitoring of variable annuity exchanges. By settling, however, it is not denying or…
Independent Brokerage Firms that Sold UDF REITs May Be Subject to Arbitration Claims Over Alleged Ponzi Scam
According to InvestmentNews, a number of independent broker-dealers could find themselves in legal hot waters, should investors decide to pursue them through arbitration for selling UDF real estate investment trusts. United Development Funding is under investigation over allegations that the UDF IV was run for years like a Ponzi scam.…
The FBI Raids UDF IV Offices in Dallas, Texas
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has raided the Dallas offices of United Development Funding. The publicly traded real estate investment trust recently came under fire amid allegations that it has been run like a Ponzi scam for years. Since the accusations against UDF IV were published on the Harvest Fund…
Texas Hedge Fund Manager Accuses United Development Funding IV of Ponzi Scam
J. Kyle Bass, the hedge fund manager who runs the Dallas-based Hayman Capital, has set up a website accusing Texas-based REIT United Development Funding IV of running a Ponzi-like real estate scam. On the site, Bass published a letter to readers, claiming that his firm had conducted research and found…