Retiree Loses Money In GPB Private Placements

Investor’s FINRA Arbitration Claim Seeks Damages of Up to $100K in GPB Private Placements and Other Securities

A Florida retiree has filed a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claim against the brokerage firm, National Securities Corp.

The claimant contends that agents of National Securities Corp overconcentrated his account in real estate investment trusts (REITs), privately traded securities, and private placements. This included a large position in GPB Capital Holdings, which is accused of operating an over $1.7B Ponzi scam.

These investments were made under the local supervision of Mark Alan Cline and his firms, CFG Capital Management and Cline FInancial out of the following areas in Florida: Cocoa Beach, Wildwood, and The Villages. Cline supervised the advisor who worked directly with this senior investor.

Throughout Florida, our Tampa stockbroker fraud lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) are representing this retiree in his GPB private placement claim to recover $100K in damages. We are also speaking to others who suffered significant losses under Mark Cline. The Cline Financial CEO is named in a dozen other pending investor fraud complaints.

Retiree Alleges Unsuitability & Overconcentration in His IRA

In his securities fraud claim, this senior investor contends that he entrusted National Securities with his entire retirement savings and that the firm promised him “safety, income, and return of principal.”

Instead, his money was placed in unsuitable investments that used an “overly aggressive portfolio strategy,” heavily concentrating his IRA in untraded and unregistered products. These investments were too risky and unsuitable for someone of his age and life circumstances.

Unfortunately, it appears that the brokerage firm and Mark Cline had a predilection for private placements. A substantial chunk of this retiree’s assets was placed in GPB Holdings LP, an investment that is now essentially worthless. Meanwhile, GPB Capital Holdings remains under investigation by FINRA, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), numerous state agencies, and the FBI for fraud.

Considering private placements such as GPB Capital are illiquid and risky, they were never suitable for this retiree, to begin with, and should not have been sold to him. Now, the claimant is making numerous allegations including breach of contract, misrepresentations, unsuitable recommendations, omissions, gross lack of supervision, overconcentration, and grossly negligent behavior.

CFG Management’s Cline Accused By Multiple Investors of Unsuitability

In December 2019 alone, 12 FINRA arbitration claims were brought by customers accusing Mark Cline of unsuitability related to their investments. These claimants are requesting damages ranging from $50K to $800K.

In addition to continuing to operate Cline Financial and CFG Management out of Florida, Mark Cline is now a National Asset Management Inc. broker. Before that, he was a National Securities registered representative. Other broker-dealers that he used to be a broker for include Great Nation Investment Corp., United Equity Securities, CCF Investments, and the Leaders Group.

GPB Private Placement Fraud Claims

Over the last several years, dozens of broker-dealers and their brokers enriched themselves, making $160M from selling private placements in the GPB Capital Holdings funds to thousands of customers. Now, these investors are grappling with huge losses, as their investments have likely lost all value.

If you suffered losses from GPB private placements or any other investments unsuitably recommended to you by CFG Management’s Mark Cline or any other financial adviser or broker in Florida, call SSEK Law Firm today at our Tampa office at 813-560-2992 or contact us online.

Our securities litigation lawyers have over 30 years of experience in securities law and have successfully helped thousands of investors recoup their losses.