Articles Posted in Suitability

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has filed charges Cardinal Energy Group, Inc. (“Cardinal”), a Texas-based oil and gas company, as well as and its former CEO Timothy W. Crawford (“Crawford”). The SEC charges defendants with fraudulently concealing the loss of Cardinal’s major source of revenue. In mid-2017, Cardinal reportedly lost control of…

An options trading program marketed as a “Yield Enhancement” strategy to brokerage customers of UBS, reportedly including risk averse investors with substantial bond portfolios, has suffered a hard landing in November and December as the so-called “Iron Condor” index options spread-based scheme has reportedly delivered losses in excess of 20% of the capital committed. UBS’s…

If your financial advisor recommended an investment in All American Oil & Gas (“AAOG”) stock, limited partnership units, or high yield (“junk”) bonds, you may be able to recover losses sustained through FINRA arbitration, in the event your broker lacked a reasonable basis for the recommendation, or if your financial advisor failed to disclose the…

On November 9, 2018, GPB Capital Holdings, LLC (“GPB”) notified certain broker-dealers who had been selling investments in its various funds that GPB’s auditor, Crowe LLP, elected to resign. As reported, GPB’s CEO, David Gentile, stated that the resignation purportedly came about “[d]ue to perceived risks that Crowe determined fell outside of their internal risk…

NorthStar Healthcare Income, Inc. (“NorthStar Healthcare”) is a public, non-traded REIT formed in October 2010 as a Maryland corporation. NorthStar Healthcare is in the business of acquiring a geographically diverse portfolio of various healthcare real estate assets, including equity and debt investments (including various joint ventures with other non-traded REITs) in the mid-acuity senior housing…

Headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, KBS Real Estate Investment Trust II, Inc. (“KBS II”) was formed as a Maryland REIT in July 2007. Pursuant to its public offering, KBS II offered 280 million shares of common stock, of which 200 million shares were registered in its primary offering, and an additional 80 million common shares…

On August 14, 2018, the Enforcement Section of the Massachusetts Securities Division (the “Division”) filed a Complaint against StockCross Financial Services, Inc. (“StockCross”) (CRD# 6670), as well as one of its registered representatives, Mr. Peter E. Cunningham (“Cunningham”) (CRD# 2400211). Through its administrative action, the Division has alleged that Cunningham engaged in “[i]mproper buys and…

As recently announced, the board of directors of Hines Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. (“Hines REIT” or the “Company”) — one of three publicly registered non-traded REITs sponsored by Hines — has unanimously voted for approval of a plan of liquidation and dissolution of the Company (“Liquidation Plan”). Under the Liquidation Plan, which calls for…

As recently reported, third party real estate investment firms Everest REIT Investors I LLC and Everest REIT Investors III LLC, two private affiliated entities, commenced an unsolicited tender offer to purchase approximately 8.8 million shares of CNL Healthcare Properties, Inc. (“CNL Healthcare”) common stock for $7.50 each. Unless amended, this unsolicited tender offer will expire…

As recently reported, former broker Kyusun Kim (a/k/a Kyu Sun Kim, a/k/a Kenny Kim) (CRD# 2864085) has consented to a “sanction and to the entry of findings [by FINRA] that he made unsuitable recommendations to numerous senior customers, who were retiring or had retired that they concentrate their retirement assets and liquid net worth in…