investment fraud lawyer

In a recent Investor Bulletin, the Securities and Exchange Commission warned investors about lost and stolen securities fraud. According to the bulletin, upon retirement of a security certificate, the transfer agent cancels the certificate. This cancellation usually involves an alteration of the certificate and an accounting entry on the transfer agent’s books. Following the cancellation, Exchange Act rules state that the certificate or record of it be retained for at least six years. Investment fraud lawyers and the SEC say that many corporate bond issues have, in recent years, been cancelled long before their maturities. Unfortunately, there have been many instances in which these canceled certificates have been stolen and reentered the marketplace, resulting in fraud. Victims of this fraud include public investors, broker-dealers, transfer agents, public companies and creditors.

Many Investors Victim to Lost, Stolen Securities Fraud

In one case, many canceled bond certificates disappeared in 1992 after they were taken from a transfer agent’s warehouse and delivered to a certificate destruction vendor. These certificates had a face value of around $111 billion. Later, these certificates began to resurface all around the world. Many individuals, brokers and banks were defrauded when the certificates were used as loan collateral or sold for cash.

Securities fraud attorneys say the SEC’s 2011 Lost and Stolen Securities Programs’s report — which received reports and inquiries on missing, lost, stolen or counterfeit certificates — is staggering. During that year, 10,990,507 certificates inquires were made, 512,807 certificates reports were made and “hits” that resulted from certificates inquiries numbered 348,791. The certificates related to these hits, which warned that the certificates in question had been reported as stolen, lost, counterfeit, or missing and ineligible for transfer, were valued at around $8,789,674,628.

Individuals who suffered significant losses as a result of a Triple Net TIC investment may be able to recover losses through securities arbitration with a securities fraud attorney. In many cases, brokers may have committed broker fraud by unsuitably recommending these investments to investors.

Investors of Triple Net TIC Could Recover Losses

TICs, or tenancies-in-common, are investments in which multiple investors are sold a property. These investors are then co-owners of the property, and receive fractional interests in said property. The investors then enjoy their own share of the net income and expenses, proceeds of sale and appreciation of the property. TIC investors do not participate in the every day management of the property. However, they do have certain rights regarding the property’s management.

TICs offer a relatively high dividend or interest and as a result, these investments are often attractive to certain retired investors. Generally though, TICs are unsuitable for income-seeking and retired investors for two main reasons: