Posts belonging to Category Promissory Notes



Alternative Investments – Often Tainted by Sales Practice Abuses

 

Investors in search of fixed income have poured money into a variety of alternative investments, including nontraded real estate investment trusts (REITs).  Alternative investments encompass most investments other than traditional stocks and bonds and mutual funds that hold stocks and/or bonds.  There are three basic clusters of problems that investors who are considering these products […]

Today’s ‘Alternative Investments’ Resemble ‘Limited Partnerships’ of the Past

 

Wall Street’s recent promotion of alternative investments should warrant serious concern among investors. It serves as an unpleasant example of history repeating itself. In the mid-1980s, Wall Street firms became enamored with limited partnerships (a form of alternative investment) that invested in so-called hard assets, paid the firms high commissions and fees, were illiquid and […]

More Experts View Bonds as High Risk

 

Many experts believe that fixed income has become a high-risk asset class, more so than at any time in recent years. Demand has pushed bond prices way up and yields way down. Bond sales for 2012 are expected to break the 2009 record of $1.024 trillion. Investors’ average allocation to fixed income is 26%, double […]

The SEC Shuts Down Another Georgia Investment Scam

 

The SEC has busted operators of a prime bank fraud (a type of ponzi scheme) that took in $15 million from at least 220 investors in more than 20 states, primarily Georgia. The operators were Billy W. McClintock, a Florida resident, Dianne Alexander aka Linda Dianne Alexander, a California resident (formerly of Georgia), two entities […]

The Northern District of Georgia Sends a Strong Message to Ponzi Scheme Operators

 

Andrew Mackey, a recently convicted ponzi scheme operator who defrauded 160 metro-Atlantans through his company, ASM Financial Funding Corp., was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge William Duffey. His common law wife, Inger Jensen, had already been sentenced to 14 years for her role in the fraud (“Man gets […]

Insurance Companies Raise Red Flags on Certain Alternative Investments

 

The recent actions of errors and omissions insurance carriers should serve as a major red flag to investors. Many of these carriers are refusing to issue coverage for sales of certain alternative investments. In other words, these carriers have determined that the risk of loss associated with the sale of certain alternative investments is too […]

State Regulators are Filing More Claims Against Investment Advisers

 

Investment advisers and their firms are facing increased scrutiny from state regulators following enactment of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act and the high profile press coverage of the Madoff ponzi scheme and other fraudulent activities. The number of regulatory enforcement actions against investment advisers increased by 100 percent in 2011. Regulators are on the lookout […]

New Scams Threaten Investor Nest Eggs

 

New types of scams are posing threats to investor well-being. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), a group of state securities regulators) has identified four new types of fraud to go along with the 6 persistent fraud threats that round out their Top Ten Threats to Investors.

Thompson National Properties Defaults on Notes Sold to Investors

 

Investors in The TNP 12 Percent Notes Program LLC issued by Thompson National Properties LLC are no longer receiving interest payments on the notes, as interest payments have been suspended. (See “Real estate big suspends interest payments on private placement,” by Bruce Kelly). Investors were further informed of the issuer’s “intention” of paying investors “all […]

SEC Accuses City Capital Corp. and Ephren Taylor of Affinity Fraud

 

City Capital Corp. and two former executives operated an $11 million Ponzi scheme that targeted socially conscious investors in church settings, according to charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission.