David Lerner and associates was founded in 1976 and is a broker/dealer. The company has offices in the northeast and Florida.
What is mean by associates?
The firm is being investigated by FINRA for recommendations and sales of Spirit of America Energy (SOAEX) funds and Energy 11, and Energy Resources 12 limited partnerships, which were sold to vulnerable investors, including seniors. These REIT investments were based on oil and gas properties, and are highly volatile and can suffer significant losses. DL financial advisors did not adequately assess the potential risks and rewards of these investments, and did not review customers’ risk tolerance profiles or recommend the products only to qualified investors. URL : https://investmentfraudlawyers.com/david-lerner-associates
Investors claimed that DL representatives were pressured to sell these investments to generate commissions. Many of the complaints allege that these securities were unsuitable for the investors’ investment objectives, and that DL failed to adequately explain or disclose the risks associated with these REITs.
DL is also accused of charging excessive markups on municipal bonds and collateralized mortgage obligations. The financial industry’s self-regulatory organization imposed $14 million in sanctions against the firm in 2012, including $12M in customer restitution.
The brokerage has denied the allegations and says it is “time to move the company past these distracting regulatory actions by Finra.” An attorney representing several investors with pending arbitration claims against DL said that the firm should be held accountable for the loss of their retirement savings. He believes that investors will have a chance to recover their investments when they are heard by an impartial arbitrator in the future.
