Item: LaxNeville
Rating: 5
Author: Anonymous

Securities Arbitration and Investment Fraud Litigation

Investor Protection and Securities Arbitration (FINRA, NFA, JAMS and AAA)

Defective Investment Products

In recent years, more and more lawsuits have involved complex and speculative investment products that were inappropriately sold and marketed to investors by several brokerage firms and registered investment advisors. In many instances, these products, which were meant for sophisticated, speculative and high net-worth investors, were marketed and sold as low-risk, conservative structured investment products to investors who were seeking income with capital preservation. However, in reality, the investments were subject to a significant amount of risk, including the risk of complete loss of the entire investment. Recently, numerous FINRA enforcement actions have arisen due to unfair sales practices regarding these products. Many investors have been significantly damaged as a result of the inappropriate marketing and selling of these investment products.

The investment fraud attorneys at Lax & Neville have experience investigating the following investment products:

Closed-End Funds
Delaware Statutory Trust Investments (DSTs)
Equity-Linked Notes (ELNs)
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Leveraged Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
Like-Kind Exchanges (1031 Exchanges)
Managed Futures Funds
Oil and Gas Investments
Private Placements (Reg D)
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
Reverse Convertible Notes
Tenant-In-Common Investments (TICs)
Variable Annuities
Penny Stocks
Municipal Bond Arbitrage
Promissory Notes
Structured Products (CDO, CMOs, MBS)
UBS Puerto Rico Bond Funds
Equity-Indexed Annuities

Often times, your broker or investment advisor will recommend these products to you because they receive a higher commission on the sale of these products as opposed to selling more traditional investments. When a broker or investment advisor makes a recommendation based on the size of their potential commission, rather than upon careful consideration of your investment goals and risk profile, they may have breached a fiduciary duty or failed to satisfy their suitability requirements. Additionally, many of these products are highly illiquid and may not be suitable for investors approaching retirement, who may need access to their funds. For some of these investments, investors will not know how much they have lost because the value of the security is not readily attainable. Finally, in some cases, these investments will be the sole product promoted by a financial firm. In these cases, your broker may over-concentrate your account in one risky investment. Furthermore, this relationship carries a potential conflict of interest with the investment promoter. That conflict may result in your broker or investment advisor’s failure to perform their own due diligence, or worse, blindly rely on the investment promoters due diligence report.

Lax & Neville LLP has been successful in recovering significant awards and settlements in cases involving deficient investment products, including a long line of product problem cases generated by Wall Street firms, such as, cases involving auction rate securities, Regions Morgan Keegan Select bond funds, Lehman Brothers Principal Protected Notes, Citigroup MAT Funds and the Aravali Fund.

If you suffered damages through investing in any of these products, please contact Lax & Neville LLP, (212) 696-1999 for a consultation.

★★★★★

The Lax & Neville team were total professionals in handling our case. They've clearly had quite a bit of experience handling complex legal matters in many jurisdictions and courts. I was impressed with their professionalism coupled with persistence in arguing a very complete and well-structured case. I highly recommend their services. Anonymous

I am very, very happy with the outcome of my case and my experience with Lax Neville could not have been better. The entire team of attorneys and staff are real professionals, they always had time to answer my many questions about my case. I was treated with compassion and respect. I am so grateful I chose to work with Lax Neville. Anonymous

This is an official " thank you" for all your hard work. It really was a pleasure to have you represent me, and I enjoyed seeing you, Rush and Sandra in action. I think Lax and Neville epitomizes the phrase "quality vs quantity". I think I told you before that I spent a lot of time researching firms; in this case things worked out, I picked the best firm. I hope I never need your services in the future, but if I do I know I found the best attorneys for these types of legal issues. Anonymous

What transpired at the [redacted] was nothing less than a truly masterful and exceptional experience regarding your intelligence, professionalism, preparedness for my case, teamwork and erudite knowledge pertaining to Securities Law, FINRA and the SEC. The facility and ease of how the case was handled, the systematic questioning of all the witnesses to obtain the facts necessary to prove our case, the preparation of the critically conclusive information and documents, the commanding coup de gras closing argument and your tireless consideration and respect for the Panel and [redacted] was, is and will continue to epitomize my feelings and conclusion that what transpired over those long three days was nothing less than raw and unabashed brilliance. Anonymous

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