Unfortunately, we continue to see a rise in elder fraud cases, especially relating to promises of conservative investments that will provide income without risk to principal. Many of these cases involved illiquid or non-traded investment products including Reg D offerings, private placements, and real estate projects. Our experience is bolstered by FINRA’s report that the senior helpline has experienced a rise in calls.
FINRA’s Work To Protect Seniors
FINRA’s report on its Securities Helpline for Seniors demonstrates FINRA’s ongoing work to protect senior investors beyond the Helpline – including rulemaking, disciplinary actions, and collaboration with other regulators and organizations – and shares effective practices from member firm senior investor protection programs.
FINRA launched the Helpline on April 20, 2015 to assist senior and vulnerable investors with questions or concerns about their brokerage accounts and investments. As of December 31, 2019, the Helpline has:
Received more than 18,000 calls from all 50 states and several countries;
Made more than 1,400 referrals to state, federal, and international regulators; and
Assisted with the return of more than $7 million to investors.
“FINRA has maintained a longstanding commitment to protecting senior investors and continues to work to address risks facing this investor population as part of our regulatory mission,” the paper noted. “In addition to the Helpline, our efforts have included rulemaking to provide firms with tools to address financial exploitation of seniors, guidance in FINRA publications, reviews of senior investor protection programs in our examinations, enforcement actions and collaboration with other regulators, as well as research and education initiatives.”
Our attorneys have filed multiple cases against small and large brokerage firms for a variety of different reasons including:
- The sale of unsuitable investments to seniors including claims for misrepresenting the risks of the investments;
- Breach of fiduciary duty including improper investment advice regarding the use of margin and lines of credit;
- Elder financial abuse including claims against brokerage firms and advisors who serve as trustees or power of attorney over customer accounts;
- Broker theft cases including claims against brokerage firms for failing to supervise stockbrokers who takes loans or other funds from customers;
- Churning cases including brokerage firms buying and selling stocks or bonds to generate a fee or commission;
- The sale of illiquid or non-traded real estate investments or other products, which frequently have high commissions.
Our financial fraud attorneys are seeing a rise in cases against seniors for a variety of reasons including an aging population and a need for income during a low interest rate environment. At the same time, Wall Street is seeing commissions being lowered on traditional stocks or bonds. In response to this loss of profits, many brokerage firms have created alternative investments, which have significant costs built into the investment, which is not understood by the investor. Frequently, these are low quality investments which are pushed by brokerage firms primarily interested in generating a fee or commission.
If you believe that your financial advisor put his interests ahead of your own, our attorneys may be able to help you recover your losses.
Contact Silver Law Group For A No-Cost Consultation
Silver Law Group and its nationally-recognized securities attorneys have expensive experience helping seniors recover money through FINRA arbitration. A senior investment fraud attorney can help you recover your financial losses due to stockbroker misconduct, elder financial fraud or breach of fiduciary duty.
If you or someone you know is a senior with questions about how your investments have been handled, please contact the Silver Law Group toll free at (800)-975-4799 or email ssilver@silverlaw.com for a confidential consultation.