Securities Lawyers Blog
Broker Brian Pfeifler (Pfeifler), currently employed at Morgan Stanley (Morgan Stanley) has been subject to at least two customer complaint during the course of his career. The complaints allege that Pfeifler made unsuitable trading recommendations, and recommending an overconcentration of high risk alternative investments including private placements and hedge funds.
According to a BrokerCheck report, in December 2023, a customer alleged that Pfeifler engaged in violations of the securities laws by, among other things, making unsuitable investments with respect to alternative investments from 2022 to 2023. The claim is currently pending.
In January 2024, a customer alleged that Pfeifler engaged in violations of the securities laws by, among other things, making unsuitable investments with respect to alternative investments from December 2021 to January 2024. The claim is currently pending.
Alternative investments include a number of different type of products including DDPs, non-traded REITs, oil and gas offerings, equipment leasing products, hedge funds, and other alternative investments. Depending on the type and structure of some alternative investments they can be configured in ways that virtually never profit investors and are almost always unsuitable for investors because of their high fee and cost structure. Brokers selling these products are paid additional commission in order to hype these inferior quality investments providing a perverse incentives to create an artificial market for the investments.
Brokers have a responsibility treat investors fairly which includes obligations such as making only suitable investments for the client after conducting due diligence. Due diligence includes an investigation into the investment’s properties including its benefits, risks, tax consequences, issuer, history, and other relevant factors. Appropriate due diligence would identify that an alternative investment’s high costs, illiquidity, and conflicts of interests that would make the investment not suitable for investors. Investors often fail to understand that they have lost money until many years after agreeing to the investment. In sum, for all of their costs and risks, investors in these programs are in no way additionally compensated for the loss of liquidity, risks, or cost.
Unfortunately, these types of alternative investment products continue to popular among brokers due to their high commissions. In order to counter the perverse incentives to sell these flawed product many states now limit investors from investing more than 10% of their liquid assets in Non-Traded REITs and BDCs. Many states impose these limitations because these investments do not benefit investors.
Pfeifler entered the securities industry in November 1992 and has been registered with Mogan Stanley out of the firms Palm Beach, Florida and New York, New York office locations.
At Gana Weinstein LLP, our attorneys are experienced representing investors who have suffered securities losses due to suitability violations. Investors who have suffered losses are encouraged to contact us at (800) 810-4262 for consultation. Claims may be brought in securities arbitration before FINRA. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.