Our law firm has been contacted by investors who claim to have suffered catastrophic investment losses in Direct Participation Plans (or "DPPs") or other alternative investments sold by Pacific West Securities. We are actively investigation these alternative investments sold by Pacific West Securities, such as equipment leases, oil and gas investments, among others. One of the specific investments at issue is "Gulf Coast Rig and Equipment."
The investments were sold by at least two separate independent financial advisors operating in California and the state of Washington. Both of these advisor firms were licensed through Pacific West Securities. According to our investigation, Pacific West Securities encouraged their financial advisors to sell millions of dollars of alternative investments to their clients and represented them to be safe and secure.
Although these investments were sold by independent agents, the focus of our investigation is not on the brokers who sold them, but rather on the brokerage firm, Pacific West Securities, for failing to do their due diligence prior to approving the products for sale. It is often the case that the brokers who sell these alternative investments are victims as well, because they are simply selling what their brokerage firm tells them to sell.
According to regulatory filings, former customers of Pacific West Securities are pursuing claims against the brokerage firm in arbitration actions filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Association (FINRA) for investment losses in excess of a million dollars suffered in several alternative investments, including DPPs, equipment leasing and oil and gas investments. To learn more about why individual investors must generally pursue their claims in mandatory arbitration, watch our short instructive video here.
Given their significant risks and complex nature, investments in limited partnerships, private placements and other alternative investments are rarely appropriate in large amounts for typical individual investors, especially those who are retired, elderly or conservative. In fact, many reputable brokerage firms won't even allow their brokers to sell these types of investments to their customers because they are too risky.
For those brokerage firms that do sell them, they must thoroughly investigate the securities before allowing their brokers to sell them. The laws require that they conduct a reasonable investigation of the investment offered and they must perform proper due diligence. If Pacific West Securities failed to satisfy its investigative duties, its customers may be entitled to pursue recovery in a FINRA arbitration proceeding.
Our firm is currently investigating claims against Pacific West Securities. Once again, although these investments were sold by independent agents, the focus of our investigation is not on the brokers, but rather on the brokerage firm for failing to do their due diligence.
If you were sold any of these investments by Pacific West Securities and are concerned that you may have suffered losses, you can contact our firm toll-free at 614-532-4576, There is no charge for our lawyers to review your potential claim and if you hire our firm the attorney fee is completely contingent and the law firm advances all costs and expenses. If we do not recovery money for you, you do not owe our law firm any fees and you would not owe the firm any expenses. In other words, if we don't win, you don't pay any attorneys fees nor do reimburse our expenses incurred to pursue your claims.
The investment fraud lawyers at Meyer Wilson devote their practice to representing investors who have claims brokerage firms, such as Pacific West Securities. We have represented over 800 investors from Ohio, California, the state of Washington and around the country and have recovered millions of dollars on their behalf in securities arbitration and litigation cases.