David Meyer Co-Author’s PIABA Report Calling for Congress to Act on Unpaid FINRA Awards

David P. Meyer, Meyer Wilson Founding Principal and President of the PIABA (Public Investors Advocate Bar Association) has co-authored a new report about the FINRA’s long-standing problem with unpaid arbitration awards.

The new report – FINRA Arbitration’s Persistent Unpaid Award Problem – is the third PIABA release to detail the scope of unpaid FINRA awards, which currently hovers around 24% of all dollars awarded to investors and which rose to nearly 30% in 2020.

It also discusses how the securities industry has continually failed to implement needed safeguards that protect investors and why it is time for legislators to step in and pass meaningful protections in the form of a national investor recovery pool.

“Many investors do not discover the misconduct in their investment accounts until there is a market correction. For these investors, most of whom rely on their own savings – often in a retirement plan - rather than a pension to fund their retirements, a meaningful market downturn will likely reveal unprecedented harm to America’s retirees and those on the verge of retirement. 

Since the industry has shown no interest in taking steps to ensure it maintains the same sort of financial responsibility it preaches to its customers, it is time for regulators and legislators to mandate seat belts, in the form of a national investor recovery pool.”

Read the full PIABA report here.

Meyer Wilson Team Wins Full Recovery for Investors at FINRA Arbitration

The investment fraud lawyers at Meyer Wilson successfully represented two investors at FINRA arbitration. Primesolutions Securities, Inc. and owner Victor L. Bull were ordered to pay full damages for losses caused by a Ponzi scheme. 

A FINRA arbitration panel in Cleveland, Ohio ordered Primesolutions Securities, Inc. and owner/president Victor L. Bull to pay full damages and costs in excess of $100,000 to two investors who were represented by Meyer Wilson (FINRA Case ID 14-01186). The decision was unanimous. Our clients are a husband and wife who lost approximately $92,500 investing in KGTA Petroleum, an investment recommended to them by Primesolutions broker Jerry Cicolani. The couple alleged that Cicolani did so without disclosing or getting approval from Primesolutions.

For more on this story and how our securities fraud lawyers were able to win a full recovery for our clients, visit Meyer Wilson In the News.

With decades of experience, our firm has the experience, resources, and tenacity needed to tackle even the largest cases nationwide. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.

The Meyer Wilson Law Firm Has Been Hired By Clients With Claims Related to Former H.D. Vest Investment Securities Broker Lewis J. Hunter. Victims of Lewis J. Hunter's Fraud Could Recover Lost Investment Money.

THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION FILED A CEASE-AND-DESIST ACTION AGAINST FORMER DETROIT, MICHIGAN H.D. VEST STOCKBROKER LEWIS J. HUNTER.

The SEC claims that Lewis J. Hunter tricked his brokerage clients into believing that they owned various outside investments. The SEC says that these investments were, in fact, a sham, and that Hunter instead used his clients' funds to pay personal and business expenses. He also used these funds to make personal loans to other victims according to the action.

Hunter was registered as a broker with securities firm HD Vest Investment Securities Inc., a registered broker-dealer based out of Texas. The SEC cites at least two HD Vest brokerage customers who were victimized by Hunter. In one instance, the SEC says that Hunter wired $150,000 directly from his client’s HD Vest brokerage account into the outside bank account of an entity that Hunter controlled, National Business Concepts International-CME Trade Group, LLC ("NBCI").

Allegedly, this wire transfer was made without the client's knowledge or permission. When the client confronted Hunter about the unauthorized transfer, Hunter told the client that he used the money to purchase a "Guaranteed Investment Certificate" ("GIC") purportedly issued by HSBC Bank Canada that would pay the client guaranteed monthly interest payments of 15 percent for two years. In reality, shortly after the money was wired into Hunter's bank account, the money was then wired into a forex brokerage account also controlled by Hunter.

Hunter tried to cover up his fraud by sending to his client various fake account statements and other documents. In another instance, Hunter got a client to sign a wire transfer form authorizing the transfer of $54,000 from the client's HD Vest brokerage account into an investment to be held at US Bank. The client's money was instead wired from the client's HD Vest brokerage account into a Scottrade account held in the name of yet another Hunter-owned entity, National Business Concepts, LLC ("NBC").

Hunter's reported actions violate the rules of the securities industry. Hunter's clients may have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments due to HD Vest's failure to properly supervise him. Investors who lost money as a result of Hunter's actions may be able to recover their losses through a FINRA dispute resolution claim.

Although the SEC has filed an action against Hunter, it is important to understand that in order to recover money lost as the result of Mr. Hunter's alleged fraud, you MUST file your own action .

THE LAW FIRM OF MEYER WILSON IS CURRENTLY TALKING TO VICTIMS OF LEWIS J. HUNTER. YOU MAY ALSO HAVE A VALID LEGAL CLAIM AGAINST HD VEST TO RECOVER YOUR MONEY, BUT THERE ARE TIME LIMITS TO FILE CLAIMS. IF YOU DO NOT ACT PROMPTLY, YOU MAY LOSE YOUR RIGHTS FOREVER.

If you or someone you care about has suffered financial losses resulting from an investment with Lewis J. Hunter or HD Vest, please call us for a confidential, no-cost consultation.

Law Firm of Meyer Wilson Investigating Apple REIT Investments

Our law firm is currently investigating David Lerner Associates and the Apple REIT Ten. Earlier this week, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) filed a Complaint against David Lerner Associates, Inc., of Long Island, New York, claiming that the firm has taken advantage of elderly or inexperienced investors by selling them Apple REIT Ten shares without fully investigating whether or not the purchase would be a good investment.

David Lerner Associates misled investors in the following ways, according to FINRA:

CONTACT US TO LEARN THE NEXT STEPS

Discover these steps along with information on the most common forms of investment fraud by contacting one of our experienced investment fraud attorneys. We will talk with you one on one – for free – and help you analyze your situation and give you options on where to go from here.

If you have lost money or had your funds frozen in the Apple REIT recommended by David Lerner, contact us today. All of our cases are handled on a contingency fee and we never request a retainer of any kind for these cases. Obtain your free case evaluation by calling toll free 614-532-4576.

Learn more about David Lerner Associates and Apple REIT Ten in the following articles:

Claims Against Pacific West Securities, Inc. Relating to Several Alternative Investments, Including DPPs, Equipment Leasing and Oil and Gas Investments

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.