Securities Lawyers Blog
The investment attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating the potential unsuitable sales of securities in Vertical Funds private placements. The Vertical Funds include Vertical Recovery Management, LLC, Vertical Mortgage Fund I, LLC, Vertical US Recovery Fund, LLC, and Vertical US Recovery Fund II, LLC.
Some of the Vertical Funds were advertised as buying real estate notes at a discount and collect mortgage funds through borrower refinancing or a future sale. Upon information and belief at least one of these funds has entered the bankruptcy alternative of General Assignment for Benefit of Creditors under California law. This development is expected to wipe away the majority of investor capital.
Private placement offerings are among the most speculative and costly investment products offered to retail investors. While the size of the private placement market is unknown, according to 2008 estimates, companies issued approximately $609 billion of securities through Regulation D offerings. Private placements allow many small companies to efficiently raise capital. However, regulators continue to find significant problems in the due diligence and sales efforts of some brokerage firms when selling private placements to investors. These problems include fraud, misrepresentations and omissions in sales materials and offering documents, conflicts of interest, and suitability abuses.