The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has sanctioned David Lerner Associates, Inc., and three of its registered representatives for the unsuitable sale of illiquid, high-commission, proprietary energy securities to its customers, specifically Energy 11, L.P., and Energy Resources 12, L.P. According to FINRA, David Lerner sold nearly $600 million of…
**Updated: April 30, 2025**: According to new court filings, the GWG Wind Down Trust estimates that the cumulative distribution from the four settlements will be between 2.694% and 3.446% of the approximately $1.67 billion in pre-petition GWG L Bond holdings that are now Series A1 WDT Interests. That is, GWG…
Notice to GPB Capital Investors: Iorio Altamirano LLP Continues to Investigate The Sale of GPB Capital Private Placement Offerings to Retail Investors A federal grand jury found GPB Capital Holdings co-founders David Gentile and Jeffry Schneider guilty of fraud. The charges are related to their management of the company, which…
What You Need to Know: On July 31, 2024, the SEC announced that it had reached an agreement with Western International Securities and five of its registered representatives to settle an ongoing lawsuit arising out of the sale of high-risk and speculative L Bonds issued by the now-bankrupt GWG Holdings,…
On February 15, 2024, the GWG Wind Down Trust filed a status report with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas for the quarter ending December 31, 2023. Although the status report did not include an updated financial statement, there are several key takeaways: The GWG…
An elderly couple in their upper 80s filed a FINRA arbitration claim against David Lerner Associates, Inc. (“David Lerner Associates”) to recover losses and damages of up to $1 million. The couple, represented by securities arbitration law firm Iorio Altamirano LLP, alleges that David Lerner Associates recommended an unsuitable investment…
On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, Jeffrey Lash, a former executive of GPB Capital Holdings, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in federal court in Brooklyn, NY. In 2021, a federal grand jury brought criminal charges against Lash, David Gentile (founder and owner of GPB Capital), and a third…
On April 21, 2023, United States Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur approved GWG’s Disclosure Statement that will be sent to creditors to vote on GWG’s Chapter 11 Plan (the “Plan”). The approval of the Disclosure Statement comes one year and one day after GWG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged former Aegis Capital Corp. broker Surage Kamal Roshan Perera and his firm, Janues Capital Incorporated, with fraud and obtaining emergency relief in court, including a temporary restraining order and an asset freeze. The SEC alleges that from February 2022 until March 2023, the…
On January 30, 2023, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published a Risk Alert including its observations from Broker-Dealer Examinations Related to Regulation Best Interest (“Reg BI”). The risk alert highlights deficiencies observed during regulatory examinations, as well as weak practices by broker-dealers that could result in deficiencies.…