alternative investment fraud lawyer Tag Archives

Crown Capital Advisor Kenneth Barroga Has Alternative Investment Complaints

December 2, 2020 | by Staff Attorney

Advisor Kenneth Barroga (Barroga), currently employed by Crown Capital Securities, L.P. (Crown Capital) has been subject to at least five customer complaints during the course of his career. According to a BrokerCheck report most of these customer complaints appears to concern unsuitable investments in alternative investments. These allegations may also concern investments in GPB Capital Holdings (GPB Capital) related investments. Crown Capital is known to have approved their brokers to sell GPB Capital to their clients.

GPB Capital is facing multiple accusations of being a Ponzi scheme, an ongoing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FBI investigations, and even GPB’s chief compliance officer being indicted for illegally obtaining information on the SEC’s investigation. Now even Volkswagen and Toyota are threatening to pull the plug on GPB Capital auto dealerships. While advisors have been telling investors to do absolutely nothing and just hang in there – this is nothing more than just additional poor advice. In November 2019 GPB Capital’s admitted that no financial audit would occur anytime in the near future. The firm has admitted that it has never been profitable and has merely returned investor capital in the past in order to fake a successful business model. In sum, investors now know there is nothing to hang onto. By the day, advisor recommendations to do nothing appear to be completely self-serving, out of the loop, and not in the interest of the investor.

In June 2020 a customer complained that Barroga violated the securities laws by alleging that Barroga engaged in sales practice violations related to lack of suitability, breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation and omissions of material facts and lack of due diligence in connection with transactions in alternative investment products. The claim alleges $180,000 in damages and is currently pending.

In November 2018 a customer complained that Barroga violated the securities laws by alleging that Barroga engaged in sales practice violations related to misrepresentations concerning REITs and unsuitable investments in alternative investments. The claim alleges $250,000 in damages and resolved for $160,097.69 with another party settling for $40,000.

Advisor Jeffrey Nesseth Subject to Complaints Over Alternative Investments

September 12, 2019 | by Staff Attorney

The securities lawyers of Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating customer complaints filed with The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against Jeffrey Nesseth (Nesseth) currently associated with Independent Financial Group, LLC (Independent Financial) out of Plano, Texas. According to a BrokerCheck report, Nesseth has been subject to at least four customer disputes, two of which are still pending. Nesseth’s customer complaints mostly concern alternative investments and direct participation products (DPPs) such as non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), oil & gas programs, annuities, and equipment leasing programs. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP have extensive experience handling investor losses caused by these types of products.

In June 2018 a customer alleged that Nesseth engaged in an over-concentration in REITs that was unsuitable to the customer’s investment needs. The customer has requested $100,000 in damages. This dispute is currently still pending.

In June 2010 a customer alleged that from December 2007 to May 2008, Nesseth made unsuitable investments of corporate debt and oil & gas causing $300,000 in damages. The claim settled for $47,500.

DDPs include products such as non-traded REITs, oil and gas offerings, equipment leasing products, and other alternative investments. These alternative investments 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 products that no honest advisor would sell.

Advisor William Richardson Subject to Complaints Over Alternative Investments

February 3, 2019 | by Staff Attorney

Advisor William Richardson (Richardson), currently employed by InvestCorp, Inc. (InvestaCorp) has been subject to at least five customer complaints. According to a BrokerCheck report some of the customer complaints concern alternative investments and direct participation products (DPPs) such as non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), oil & gas programs, annuities, and equipment leasing programs. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP have extensive experience handling investor losses caused by these types of products.

In November 2018 a customer filed a complaint alleging that Richardson violated the securities laws by being recommended alternative investments that were unsuitable. The claim alleges $500,000 in damages and is currently pending.

In July 2009 a customer complained that Richardson violated the securities laws by being recommended a limited partnership investment that was not unsuitable. The claim alleges $50,000 in damages and was closed.

Our firm often handles cases involving direct participation products, Non-Traded REITs, oil and gas offerings, equipment leasing products, and other alternative investments. These products are almost always unsuitable for investors. In addition, the brokers who sell them are paid additional commission in order to hype inferior quality investments which provides a perverse incentives by brokers to create an artificial market for products that no honest advisor would sell.