Current Investigations

What is Breach of Fiduciary Duty by a Stockbroker?

Published on: September 19, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

When Your Financial Advisor Fails To Act In Your Best Interests

Your registered broker-dealer owes you a fiduciary obligation to act in your best interests. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. Instead, your financial advisor might have unsuitably recommended an investment or trading strategy that was too risky for your risk tolerance level or engaged in unauthorized trading in your brokerage account without your permission. You also may have been the victim of outright broker fraud in which misappropriation or theft was involved. This is where our securities attorneys step in and help you.

Bottom line, financial advisors and their brokerage firms who breach their fiduciary duty to customers are placing them at risk of suffering significant investment losses. This is why breach of fiduciary is often what our securities lawyers hear as one of the most common claims made by investors seeking to pursue damages against a broker-dealer.

Oppenheimer Ordered To Pay $36.7M to Eight Investors of Alleged Horizon Private Equity III Ponzi Scam

Published on: September 16, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Customers Were Sold Private Equity Shares By Ex-Georgia Broker and Southport Capital Investment Adviser John Woods

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel in Atlanta has ordered Oppenheimer & Co. to pay several investors $36.7M in the wake of losses sustained in the alleged $110M Horizon Private Equity III Ponzi Scheme. The investment fraud was allegedly run by its former Georgia stockbroker John Justin Woods for several years, including while he was under the firm’s supervision. This award is six times what the claimants had sought.

The investors had originally asked for punitive damages and $6M in compensatory damages after accusing the firm of broker-dealer negligence, and other claims, as well as of violating the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act

Did Your Broker Recommend You Invest In The Deeproot Funds?

Published on: September 15, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

You May Be The Victim of a $58M Ponzi Scam

More than one year after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit against deeproot Funds and its owner Robert J. Mueller accusing them of running an alleged $58M Ponzi Scam that defrauded nearly 300 investors, these same alleged victims are still struggling to recover their losses without a securities attorney. Unfortunately, waiting for the SEC’s case to conclude very likely won’t help deeproot investors get most, or maybe even any, of their money back. The Commission’s main priorities in these types of complaints are to hold parties that violate securities laws responsible and issue sanctions and penalties against them.

This is why if you are a deeproot investor, it is important that you explore your legal options with the help of a skilled Texas securities lawyer. You will want to go after your broker-dealer or financial advisor that recommended this speculative, unregistered, risky private investment vehicle while very likely failing to conduct the proper due diligence to ensure that the deeproot Funds were legitimate investment ventures.

What Should Investors Know About The FINRA Arbitration Process?

Published on: September 14, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Shepherd, Smith, Edwards, and Kantas Has Been Fighting For Investors for Over 30 Years

If you are an investor looking to pursue financial recovery for your investment losses caused by unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentations and omissions, unauthorized trading, or other grounds, there is a very good chance that you signed an agreement with your broker-dealer in which you both consented to resolve any disputes through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration process. You may not have realized this at the time, but with that agreement, you essentially gave up your right to sue your brokerage firm and their financial advisor in court.

This is where Shepherd, Smith, Edwards, and Kantas’ securities lawyers (investorlawyers.com) can help. Our skilled FINRA lawyers have been fighting for investors for years and this includes representing our clients before panels of arbitrators all over the United States.

Did You Suffer Serious Investment Losses While Working With Former Morgan Stanley Broker Doug McKelvey?

Published on: September 13, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Our Houston Securities Attorneys and Investment Fraud Attorneys Can Help You Explore Your Legal Options

Beginning August 26, 2022, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has barred former Morgan Stanley broker Doug Marshall McKelvey. The decision comes after the ex-Texas financial advisor refused to provide the information requested by the self-regulatory organization (SRO) in the latter’s inquiry into his firing by the broker-dealer in April 2022.

Morgan Stanley claims that they terminated McKelvey’s employment because he allegedly misappropriated funds from and engaged in unauthorized activities in the accounts of clients. McKelvey has consented to FINRA’s findings resulting in the permanent and indefinite bar.

Our GWG L Bond Loss Lawyers at SSEK Law Firm Continue to Pursue Brokerage Firms for Investment Fraud

Published on: September 9, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

What You Should Know if You Invested in GWG L Bonds

If you are someone whose financial advisor recommended that you invest in GWG Holdings L Bonds, by now you likely know that the alternative asset firm has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection despite owing you and thousands of other investors millions of dollars in payments and interest. Visit GWG Holdings, Inc. and GWG L Bonds for more information.

You should also know that the chances of you obtaining a full financial recovery from any bankruptcy proceedings are highly unlikely. This is why you should immediately contact our seasoned security fraud lawyers to find out whether it makes sense to pursue a claim against the brokerage firm that sold you L Bond private placements.

SSEK Law Firm Wins More than $468,000 UBS YES Award for North Carolina Couple

Published on: September 8, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Third Yield Enhancement Strategy Investors Award for Seasoned Securities Fraud Law Firm

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) is thrilled to announce that on September 1, 2022, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel ordered UBS Financial Services (UBS) to pay $468,126 to two customers and their trust over losses they sustained in the firm’s UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy program. The award was a unanimous ruling by three FINRA arbitrators. It was a full recovery for the investors, including more than $343,000 in compensatory damages, more than $100,000 in legal fees, and over $24,000 in costs.

On September 2, 2022, InvestmentNews reported on SSEK Law Firm’s win against UBS and interviewed our Managing Partner Sam Edwards. This is our firm’s third UBS YES loss attorneys’ arbitration award that we’ve won for investors who were never fully apprised of the risks involved in the firm’s options overlay strategy, experiencing securities fraud. Our securities attorneys’ earlier wins were a $400K Yield Enhancement Strategy award on behalf of Maryland investors and another award on behalf of a Texas investor.

Did LightPath Capital and Its Broker Paul Getty, Also of First Guardian Group in San Jose, CA, Sell You Private Placement Shares in Skyloft Austin

Published on: September 7, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Our Skyloft Austin Investment Loss Lawyers Represent Investors in Recouping Their Losses

If you are a Skyloft Austin investor, you may be grappling with the losses you suffered in this real estate private placement deal that you were led to believe would earn you regular dividends while also providing you with deferred capital gains tax benefits. Instead, like many of those who invested in this luxury student housing near the University of Austin in Texas, you may be hoping to somehow recoup your investment from the liquidation agreement reached with property manager Nelson Partners and the $17.5M verdict won against the hedge fund Axonic Capital.

Visit Skyloft Austin Student Housing by Nelson Partners and Liquidation Plan Gets Final Court Approval to find out more.

Are You A Retiree or Senior Investor Who Has Lost Your Life Savings Due To Stockbroker or Advisor Negligence?

Published on: September 6, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Why You Should Contact A Seasoned Retirement Loss Attorney Right Away

Unfortunately, retirees and older investors are especially vulnerable to significant investment losses. This is why it is so important that your broker only markets products or investment strategies to you that are suitable for you given your investing profile, risk tolerance level, financial goals, age, and other criteria. Yet that does not always happen. Some of the investments and products that have been the largest cause of investor losses in recent years were backed by retirees and seniors who would have never gotten involved in them were it not for the unsuitable recommendation of their brokerage firm and financial advisor. Here are a few examples:

GWG Holdings L Bonds

Massachusetts Fines MML Investors Services $250K For Failing to Supervise Ex-Broker Charles Evan

Published on: August 27, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

State Securities Regulator Seeks to Ban Former Capital Planning Group Investment Adviser

Massachusetts securities regulator William Galvin has fined MassMutual broker-dealer subsidiary MML Investors Services $250K for its alleged failure to supervise its former registered representative Charles Jonathan Evan. The ex-Wellesley, MA broker is also a former registered investment adviser who most recently was with Capital Planning Group of Massachusetts, Inc. Both Evan and Capital Planning are respondents in a separate but related civil complaint brought by the state.

According to Galvin’s office, Evan allegedly pressured investors to buy high-commission insurance products that were unsuitable for them. The state securities regulator is seeking to permanently bar him from operating as a financial advisor in Massachusetts.