Securities Arbitration Lawyers BlogVSR Financial Broker Mickey Long Under Investigation
Silver Law Group is investigating Texas-based broker M F “Mickey” Long II (“Long”) (CRD# 1778299) of VSR Financial. According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (“FINRA”) BrokerCheck records, Long has been subject to nine customer complaints.
One of the nine customer complaints is currently pending and alleges unsuitable investment recommendations, misrepresentations, and breach of fiduciary duties among others. The claims appear to relate to oil and gas private placements.
Oil and gas securities were at their peak when the commodity was soaring at unprecedented levels in 2008. The prices rallied to a high of just over $110 per unit in 2011, but the commodity was risky. Another drop occurred in late 2014 and the commodity has currently been valued around $50 per barrel but going as low as the high 20s.
Among other basic tenets, brokers are required to recommend suitable investments to their customers. This requires that the broker 1) investigates and conducts due diligence into the investment’s properties including its benefits, risks, tax consequences, and other relevant factors to form a reasonable basis for the recommendation of the product; and 2) appropriately matches the investment with the customer’s specific investment needs and objectives, such as the customer’s retirement status, long or short-term goals, age, disability, income needs, or any other relevant factor.
Many brokers got caught up in the façade that was ever-increasing crude oil, improperly recommending master limited partnerships (“MLPs”), bonds, private placements, stocks, and other oil and gas securities to conservative investors. Many brokers allegedly neglected to conduct due diligence and investigate these investments and negligently recommended them to customers.
Many not only negligently recommended these oil and gas securities, they also failed to diversify, overconcentrating their customers’ funds and causing unhampered losses when the securities tanked. Long is one of many brokers who have been accused of recommending unsuitable investments and overconcentrating investor accounts in these securities.
Silver Law Group has represented and currently represents many clients in these types of oil and gas products and can help you recover some of your losses.
If you lost money investing in oil and gas private placements, publicly-traded drilling partnerships, partnership bonds, or other oil and gas securities you may be entitled to recover some of your investment losses. Please contact Scott Silver of the Silver Law Group for a free consultation at ssilver@silverlaw.com or toll free at (800) 975-4345 to find out how we may be able to help you recover some of your investment losses.