A real estate investment company founded by Duane Lund in 2003, the Geneva Organization specializes in pooling individual investors into larger groups to buy commercial real estate. According to investment fraud lawyers, many broker-dealers’ may have improperly recommended Geneva Organization TIC investments to investors. Specifically, these TIC investments granted investors interests in One Southwest Crossing, a building in Eden Prairie.

TICs are complicated deals that allow real estate sellers to avoid capital-gains tax by rolling their proceeds into other properties, receive a regular income from the investment — and, in the event of the investor’s death, the asset can be bequeathed to heirs. TICs are also known as 1031 exchanges and, despite these attractive benefits, they are not appropriate for many investors but, rather, are only suitable for some specialized clients.

Prior to recommending an investment to a client, brokers and firms are required to perform the necessary due diligence to establish whether the investment is suitable for the client, given their age, investment objectives and risk tolerance. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority rules have established that firms have an obligation to fully disclose all the risks of a given investment when making recommendations. Furthermore, brokerage firms must, before approving an investment’s sale to a customer, conduct a reasonable investigation of the securities and issuer.

It now appears that some of the brokerage firms that sold Geneva Organization TICs did not adequately assess the risk of the investments. As a result, securities fraud attorneys say many investors received unsuitable recommendations.

If you invested in a Geneva Organization TIC, and you believe your broker-dealer’s recommendation was unsuitable given your age, investment objectives and/or risk tolerance, you may be able to recover your losses through securities arbitration. To find out more about your legal rights and options, contact an investment fraud lawyer at The Law Office of Christopher J. Gray at (866) 966-9598 for a no-cost, confidential consultation.

According to stock fraud lawyers, following the crash of the real estate market, many TIC investors, as fractional owners in a single property, saw a significant decline in the value of their investment. However, because of the sales practices of some FINRA registered brokerage firms, some of these investors may be able to recover losses through securities arbitration. These products were often represented as “guaranteed” and/or “safe” investments that would return between 7 and 12 percent each year. However, in many cases, investors were not properly advised on the risks associated with TIC investments.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel has already ordered one firm, LPL Financial, to reimburse investor losses amounting to $1.4 million in Braintree Park LLC and Heron Cove LLC. These two TICs were sponsored by Direct Invest LLC.

TIC investments currently under investigation by securities arbitration lawyers include, but are not limited to: Covington Main Street Commons, TSG, DBSI, Sequoia Stonebriar, USA View at Encino Commons, Geyser Realty, Eliason, Braintree Park, Mission Bellevue Ridge, Behringer Harvard St. Louis Place, Connor Farms, NNN Papago Spectrum TIC, NNN Mt. Moriah Apartments 1, NNN Park Central 4, NNN Satellite Place, Argus Realty Investors, Mission Antioch, US Advisors Houston Levee, Heron Cove, Darien Business Center, Mission Briley Parkway, Townley Business Park 3 and Mission Matthews Place.

If you suffered significant losses as a result of your investment in a TIC and were not properly advised of the risks associated with the investment, you may be able to recover your losses in 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.