Customer’s FINRA Arbitration Hearing Seeking Up to $500K Will Take Place in Los Angeles
Our broker fraud attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) have filed a FINRA arbitration claim against Cetera Investment Services. A very elderly Chinese widow who entrusted the firm to keep her money safe suffered considerable losses in PB Investment Holdings.
The claimant, who is from Shanghai, is requesting up to $500K in damages for the losses she sustained in PB Investment Holdings (formerly Beechwood), a now failed off-shore entity owned by imprisoned billionaire Greg Lindberg.
This is not the first six-figure PB Investment arbitration claim that SSEK Law Firm has filed against Cetera over a customer’s losses. If you too are someone who suffered losses in PB Investment Holdings or Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda), contact our securities law firm today.
Retiree Trusted Cetera Investment Services To Keep Her Money Safe
The claimant, who resides in China, set up a bank account at an East West Bank in Diamond Bar, California, where she has family, years ago. Cetera Investment Services acts as broker-dealer for East West customers.
The claimant was eventually referred to a Cetera Investment Services broker, who was supposed to invest her savings safely. Instead, the Cetera financial advisor unsuitably recommended and overconcentrated her assets in PB Investment Holdings.
Throughout this time, the investor was told that her money had been placed in a safe investment that came with a principal guarantee and would give her a modest, approximately 2.5% return. Her broker even compared the PB Investment product to a CD and told the claimant it had principal protection.
PB Investment Holdings was promoted to this elderly widow, an unsophisticated investor, in marketing materials that were written in Chinese. The Cetera broker, who shared similar cultural ties, used this to her advantage when working with this investor. Now, this claimant has suffered a large loss in a failed investment.
Global Bankers’ Off-Shore Entities Goes Into Liquidation
PB Investment Holdings was bought by Global Bankers, which Lindberg owns, in 2017. The company then acquired Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) in 2018. The following year, Lindberg was indicted. In 2020, he was convicted of wire fraud and bribery.
Now serving an over seven-year prison term, Lindberg is known for using his annuity and insurance companies to funnel money to his other entities. Court documents note that this is exactly what he did with PB Investment Holdings and Northstar Financial Service (Bermuda).
Both entities have since filed for bankruptcy protection. It is not known whether either company will be able to give investors back their money, which is why their best chance for financial recovery is to file their own FINRA arbitration claim seeking damages.
Unsuitability, Overconcentration, and Failure to Supervise by Cetera
This investor is alleging misrepresentations and omissions, unsuitability, fraud, negligence, overconcentration, and failure to supervise.
This was not a one-time error by Cetera, which had multiple opportunities over the years to remove this investor from PB Investment Holdings, including after Lindberg was indicted. That said, the brokerage firm should never have invested this client in this particular off-shore entity, especially when there were comparable, more protected US-based products available.
Cetera’s failure to supervise this broker was absolutely inexcusable. Not only would a reasonable supervisor have never signed off on the trades made for this customer, but also there was no meaningful oversight of the financial advisor or compliance until it was too late.
Unfortunately, it seems that the lure of commissions from PB Investment Holdings sales was the incentive for why US-based broker-dealers recommended these products to customers, including those seeking a safe haven for their money.
Experienced PB Investment Holdings Lawyers
SSEK Law Firm represents many investors, including foreign nationals, in their FINRA arbitration claims against Cetera Investment Services and the other brokerage firms that sold PB Investment Holdings and Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) products to their customers.
Call (800) 259-9010. Internationally, via WhatsApp (text only) at (713) 227-2400.