Northstar is now in court-ordered liquidation proceedings after filing for Chapter 15 bankruptcy last year, and is unable to honor client surrender requests.
A FINRA complaint filed April 12, 2021 against one of the securities brokerage firms, Truist Investment Service (formerly known as SunTrust), seeks damages for lack of due diligence, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and negligent misrepresentation. The complaint alleges that Sun Trust and one of its brokers misrepresented to two retiree clients that their retirement savings, traditionally invested in money markets and CDs, would be equally safe in Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) annuities while steadily earning a fixed yield.
Despite these pitches, SunTrust and its broker “failed to conduct adequate due diligence and failed to uncover or downright ignored the complex, risky, speculative, and illiquid nature of this investment,” the complaint contends.
Nor did the SunTrust broker disclose that Northstar “paid selling broker-dealers a high commission to peddle its products to unsuspecting investors,” the suit alleges.
Silver Law Group is continuing to investigate U.S.-based brokerage firms and financial management institutions that sold the Northstar fixed and variable rate annuity investments, in particular to retirees and the elderly, as safe and secure when in fact the risk of the investments were magnified by the lack of U.S. regulatory safeguards and the company’s history of mismanagement.
Other securities brokerage firms that sold Northstar products include: Bankoh Investment Services, J.P. Morgan Securities, and Ocean Financial Services.
Do You Have Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) Investment Losses?
If you invested in Northstar investment products through SunTrust, Ocean Financial Services or another U.S. brokerage, please contact Silver Law Group for a confidential consultation toll free at (800) 975-4345 or email ssilver@silverlaw.com. Our team includes several Spanish speakers and can talk with investors in English or Spanish. Many Northstar investors reside in Latin America or elsewhere, and we are able to represent investors wherever they reside.