Pacific Cornerstone Faces More Problems; FINRA Arbitration Offers Hope for Investors

Securities arbitration lawyers continue to file claims against Pacific Cornerstone Capital Inc. on behalf of investors. In a February Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Pacific Cornerstone stated that it was “involved with an arbitration proceeding before FINRA and one FINRA investigation.” Pacific Cornerstone did not, however, state any specifics about the investigation referred to in the filing, or in its Focus report, which is the firm’s annual report of audited financials.

Pacific Cornerstone is Cornerstone Real Estate Funds’ broker-dealer arm and manager of the devaluated REITs. According to stock fraud lawyers, Pacific Cornerstone’s SEC filing stated that it didn’t know what the results of the FINRA matters would be.

In 2009, Pacific Cornerstone was fined $700,000 by FINRA for allegedly misstating material facts related to private placement sales. Recently, Pacific Cornerstone saw severe devaluations of two non-traded REITs, or real estate investment trusts. Investors received word in March that Cornerstone Core Properties REIT’s value had dropped from $8 per share to $2.25 per share and it raised only $158 million, falling dramatically short of its target of $439 million. Last year, the Cornerstone Healthcare Plus REIT replaced the fund’s adviser and changed its name to Sentio Healthcare Properties Inc. Cornerstone Healthcare’s value has dropped from $10 per share to $9.02 per share. A third Cornerstone offering, CIP Leveraged Advisors, has also seen severe declines in value.

Securities arbitration lawyers have stated that as illiquid, non-traded investments, the Cornerstone REITs were not a suitable investment for all investors. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules have established that firms have an obligation to fully disclose all the risks of a given investment when making recommendations, and those recommendations must be suitable for the individual investor receiving the recommendation. Furthermore, brokerage firms must, before approving an investment’s sale to a customer, conduct a reasonable investigation of the securities and issuer.

If you suffered losses as a result of an unsuitable recommendation to invest in the Pacific Cornerstone REIT, the Cornerstone Core Properties REIT, or CIP Leveraged Advisors, you may be able to recover losses through securities arbitration. To find out more about your legal rights and options, contact a stock fraud lawyer at The Law Office of Christopher J. Gray at (866) 966-9598 for a no-cost, confidential consultation.