Broker-Dealer Comes Under Scrutiny Over Energy, Gas, and Oil Investment Recommendations
If you are a retail or conservative investor, a retiree, or any other investor unwilling or unable to take on too much risk and a David Lerner Associates broker sold you oil, gas, and energy investments, our investment fraud lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) would like to offer you a free, no-obligation case consultation.
Investors who recently invested in the following funds with David Lerner Associates may have been a victim of unsuitable sales practices and have grounds for a claim:
- Energy 11
- LP
- Spirit of America Fund (SOAEX)
- Energy Resources 12
David Lerner Associates is a privately held brokerage firm with over $4.5B of client assets. It also is the distributor of the mutual fund Spirit of America Energy (SOAEX) and the non-public limited partnerships Energy Resources 12 and Energy 11.
All three of these invest in the oil, gas, and energy arenas, which were already volatile before the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) struck and are now undergoing even more massive turbulence, causing investors to lose money.
COVID-19 Causes Even More Turbulence in Already Volatile Sectors
Oil prices have recently taken a major tumble, hitting lows as far down as negative $40 as the demand for oil and gas has gone down. According to CNBC, the devaluation of the energy sector has gotten to the point that on the S & P 500 Index, it is now the 2nd smallest segment. Meantime, banks have been getting ready for a number of oil companies to declare bankruptcy.
With market volatility set to continue for another while at least, investors have experienced losses from investing in leveraged and inverse ETPs, crude oil ETNs and UBS ETRACs ETNs.
Oil and Gas Investment Claims
Unfortunately, there are concerns that David Lerner Associates stockbrokers may have recommended and sold investments in Energy 11, Energy Resource 12, and Spirit of America Energy even to customers they shouldn’t have. Possibly even overconcentrating their portfolios in oil, gas, and energy investments.
As a result, these investors may now be dealing with losses they shouldn’t have to be contending with for investments that were never suitable for them, their investment goals, or the degree of risk they could handle, to begin with.
At SSEK Law Firm, our Texas-based oil and gas fraud lawyers have spent the last 30 years helping investors get back losses caused by inappropriate investment recommendations, overconcentration, churning, and other fraudulent or negligent practices. Contact us today if you believe that you have been a victim of investment fraud either before or as a result of COVID-19.