Articles Posted in Current Investigations

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. 

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.

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.  

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: 

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.

Broker-Dealers May Have Not Fully Apprised Hedge Fund Investors of the Risks 

According to Bloomberg, sources report that on July 18, 2022, Legion Strategies suspended investor redemptions. The hedge fund is managed by Anthony Scaramucci’s Skybridge Capital.

Scaramucci was a communications director for former US President Trump for eleven days in July 2017. His Skybridge Capital is an SEC-registered investment adviser and asset manager that, as of the end of June 2022, was overseeing about $2.5B, including more than $800M in digital assets. 

New Financing Package Is Still No Guarantee of Financial Recovery for 27,000 L Bond Investors

The Texas Southern Bankruptcy Court has approved a new debtor-in-possession financing package for GWG Holdings. The alternative asset firm, which sold $1.6B of L Bonds to investors, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2022. Not long after, a judge at the US Bankruptcy Court in Houston allowed GWG to borrow a $10M emergency loan from National Founders LP to avoid immediate liquidation. 

This new verbally approved financing package is for $65M and offers the option to sell GWG’s life insurance asset portfolio for at least $610M—that’s $1B less than what L Bond investors are owed. It takes the place of another $65M financing package deal, includes lower interest rates and fees, and provides other protections. The loan is to be issued by Chapford SMA Partnership LP. 

Retail Customers Are Each Requesting Up to Six Figures in Damages for Their Losses 

Our GWG L Bond loss attorneys continue to file Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claims against Centaurus Financial because its affiliated brokers unsuitably marketed and sold L Bond to customers, including inexperienced investors and retirees.

Here are the recent claimants and the Centaurus brokers involved:

Investors Allege Unsuitability and Misrepresentations

Our UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy (UBS YES) investment loss attorneys are speaking with customers of UBS Financial Services broker William Word Huthnance in Houston, Texas. Huthnance, who has worked for 20 years in the industry, is accused of allegedly unsuitably recommending the firm’s risky iron condor strategy to customers while purportedly making misrepresentations and omissions to them. 

Already, one claimant reached a $580K settlement over their UBS YES losses, as well as losses involving purportedly unsuitably recommended hedge funds, structured notes, and private equity fund recommendations. 

Irvine, CA Claimants Are Pursuing Up To $500K in Damages from American Trust Investment Services

 Three Southern California investors have filed a six-figure Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against broker-dealer American Trust Investment Services over their GWG L Bond losses. The claimants, who are related, worked with former broker Kyle William Chapman, who was a registered investment adviser with Clarity Capital Partners in Newport Beach until July 2022. 

Our L Bond loss attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) represent these claimants in FINRA arbitration. A panel of three arbitrators in Los Angeles will hear their case.  

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