Articles Posted in Suitability

Hospitality Investors Trust Inc. (formerly known as ARC Hospitality Trust, Inc.) is a non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on ownership of hotels and other lodging properties in the United States. As a publicly registered non-traded REIT, Hospitality Investors Trust was permitted to sell shares to the investing public at large, oftentimes upon the…

Investors in American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust III Inc. (“ARC HT III”) may be able to recover losses on their investment in FINRA arbitration. ARC HT III is a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust (“REIT”) sponsored by AR Global and based in New York, NY. As its name suggests, this non-traded REIT is…

Recently, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has devoted significant regulatory oversight to one financial product that is rife with potential for abuse: the variable annuity (“VA”). As a general rule, annuities are treated as insurance products. Accordingly, annuities are subject to regulation at the State level. Specifically, each State maintains a guarantee fund that…

Summit Healthcare REIT Inc. (“Summit”), a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust, has recommended to shareholders that they reject a third-party tender offer by MacKenzie Realty Capital to purchase shares for $1.34 a share. The REIT estimates its net asset value per share as $2.53, and therefore says that the $1.34 a share offer…

Investors who have lost money in Woodbridge Wealth or in any of the Woodbridge Mortgage Funds may be able to pursue recovery of any losses through securities litigation or arbitration. Brokerage firms that sell private placements such as the Woodbridge funds must conduct due diligence on the investment before recommending it to their clients. The…

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has filed two recent enforcement actions that may signal a crackdown on variable annuity (VA) misconduct this year, continuing a 2016 trend of high fines related to VA sales in 2016. In the first disciplinary proceeding, FINRA reportedly suspended broker Cecil E. Nivens for two years and ordered the…

Recently, the North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”) released a timely survey entitled ‘Seniors & Financial Exploitation’ (the “Survey”). The Survey, which was conducted among NASAA’s membership of 67 state, provincial and territorial securities administrators in all 50 States, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, in addition to the U.S. Virgin…

Business Development Corporation of America (“BDCA”) is a non-traded business development company headquartered in New York, New York. As a business development company (“BDC”), BDCA focuses on providing flexible financing solutions to various middle market companies (e.g., BDCA extended a second lien term loan in August 2016 to the well-known “fast casual” restaurant chain, Boston…

CNL Growth Properties, Inc. (“CNL Growth”) is a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust (“REIT”) based in Orlando, FL. Because CNL Growth is registered with the SEC, the non-traded REIT was permitted to sell securities to the investing public at large, including numerous unsophisticated investors who bought shares through the initial public offering (“IPO”)…

Strategic Realty Trust (“SRT,” formerly known as TNP Strategic Retail) is a San Mateo, CA based non-traded real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that invests in and manages a portfolio of income-producing real properties including various shopping centers located primarily in the Western United States. Over the past several years, many retail investors were steered into…