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On December 21, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) formally announced charges, as well as an asset freeze, against the Woodbridge Group of Companies (“Woodbridge”) and its related unregistered investment funds, as well against Woodbridge’s owner and former CEO, Robert Shapiro. Through initiating litigation (the “Complaint”) in Florida federal court, the SEC is alleging,…

On December 13, 2017, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) disclosed that registered representative Brian Michael Travers has been barred from the securities industry. Specifically, pursuant to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”), pursuant to which Brian Travers neither admitted or denied FINRA’s findings, Mr. Travers acknowledged that on November 1, 2017, he…

On December 18, 2017, LPL Financial LLC (“LPL”) lost a FINRA arbitration concerning customer claims related to former LPL broker Charles Fackrell. The three-member FINRA panel issued a $462,000 aggregate award to six of Mr. Fackrell’s former clients, an amount which must be satisfied by LPL within 30 days. As we discussed in a previous…

On December 8, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a Cease-and-Desist Order (“Order”) against Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. (“Ameriprise”) in connection with allegations that Ameriprise and its employees or agents purportedly misrepresented the performance of certain ETF strategies. Specifically, the SEC’s investigation focused on sales of AlphaSector strategies by ETF manager F-Squared Investments,…

Investors with losses in Summit Healthcare REIT (“Summit”), a non-traded real estate investment trust (Non-Traded REIT), may have arbitration claims if a broker or advisor made a recommendation to purchase the shares without a reasonable basis or misled the customer as to the nature of the investment. Summit, headquartered in Lake Forest, California, invests in…

CNL Lifestyle Properties, Inc. (“CNL Lifestyle”) is a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that is based in Orlando, FL. Because CNL Lifestyle 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…

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has barred former Wells Fargo (CRD# 126292) financial advisors Charles Henry Frieda (CRD# 5502319) and Charles B. Lynch, Jr. (CRD# 3004877) for allegedly engaging in a pattern and practice of recommending an unsuitable over-concentration in energy-sector securities to numerous customers. On April 12, 2016, Mr. Lynch was discharged by…

As part of its ongoing regulatory focus on variable annuity (“VA”) sales misconduct, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has recently barred a former Next Financial Group (“Next Financial”) (CRD# 46214) broker. Registered representative JoeAnn Walker (CRD# 2210194) was previously affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network (1998-2006), LPL Financial LLC (2006-2015), and most recently, NEXT Financial…

Paul Wescoe Smith, formerly associated with Bolton Global Capital, was the subject of a civil action and a criminal indictment filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice, through the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, on December 7, 2017. Smith, age 63, a resident of…

As recently discussed in our blog, on Monday, December 4, the Woodbridge Group of Companies, LLC (“Woodbridge”) of Sherman Oaks, CA, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware Bankruptcy Court (Case No. 17-12560-KJC). Woodbridge has asserted that a restructuring of its debt was necessary due to increased operating and development costs, in addition to…