FRANKOWSKI FIRM INVESTIGATING STEPHEN JOE WILLIAMS AND NEXT FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
The Frankowski Firm is investigating potential claims against stockbroker Stephen Joe Williams, who works in the Madison, Alabama office of NEXT Financial Group, Inc. NEXT Financial Group is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Mr. Williams’ FINRA BrokerCheck report reveals six disclosures since 2004, including one regulatory action against Mr. Williams and five customer disputes. The two […]
FINRA January 2017 Disciplinary Actions
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VFG Securities Settles Claims With FINRA
VFG Securities Inc., a small broker-dealer, and its owner, Jason Vanclef, reached a settlement agreement with FINRA regarding allegations that he and the firm had customers overly concentrated in illiquid investments and had used a book he had written to pump up these alternative investments. FINRA had filed a complaint claiming that the firm failed […]
SEC Hits UDF With Wells Notice
The Frankowski Firm, LLC currently represents multiple investors who have invested in troubled United Development Funding REITs. Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a Wells notice against the Texas company, which indicates that the SEC has made a preliminary determination to potentially recommend an enforcement action against it. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ stock […]
Mickey Long Banned From Selling Alt. Investments
The Texas State Securities Board has banned broker Mickey Long from recommending alternative investments, including nontraded REITs, after he concentrated a client’s account with too many such investments. The state also suspended him for forty-five days and put him on heightened supervision by his firm, Calton & Associates Inc., for two years. [su_spacer size=”10″]Regulators have […]
UDF IV Defaults On $35M Loan
United Development Funding IV (UDF IV), a Texas Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), has defaulted on a $35 million term loan and has suspended its distributions to shareholders. The trust has been surrounded by trouble since December, when an anonymous post on an investor website claimed that UDF IV was operating as a Ponzi scheme. […]
Frankowski Firm Investigating UDF REITs
The Frankowski Firm is continuing its investigation into United Development Funding III and IV (UDF) on behalf of investors in the company’s real estate investment trusts (REITs). The FBI recently raided the company’s offices in Texas, and immediately afterward UDF IV’s price dropped to $3.20 per share, more than 81% lower than its December 2015 […]
Texas REIT Offices Raided By FBI
The FBI raided the office of a Texas REIT, United Development Funding IV, this week. The firm saw its stock price drop 81% in the past two months after a hedge fund alleged it was operating for years like a Ponzi scheme. “The FBI is lawfully present and conducting law enforcement activity” at the UDF […]
Broker Lies About Charging $11M In Commissions For Nontraded REITs and BDCs
FINRA charged a broker for lying to a Native American tribe about the $11 million in commissions he charged when he sold the tribe $190 million in nontraded real estate investment trusts and business development companies. Between June 2011 and January 2015, broker Gopi Krishna Vungarala “regularly lied to his customer, a Native American tribe, regarding […]
Top Investor Threats
The following is a list compiled by the North American Securities Administrators Association of the top financial products and practices that threaten to trap unwary investors and small business owners: Unregistered Products / Unlicensed Salesmen: The offer of securities by an individual without a valid securities license should be a red alert for investors. Con artists […]