Securities Arbitration Lawyer Blog
Iorio Altamirano LLP is investigating claims on behalf of defrauded investors who were victims in the GPB funds scheme. The GPB funds were marketed to independent broker-dealers and investment advisers who would, in turn, sell the GPB funds to their retail investors. According to publicly available records filed with the SEC, broker-dealer Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments likely received sales compensation for selling the GPB funds to retail investors.
Former Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments Compliance Officer Toni Caiazzo Neff is said to have warned the firm about GPB Capital. According to a report on InvestmentNews, the firm’s management went around Caiazzo Neff and decided to sell GPB Capital against her recommendation. Caiazzo Neff reported the situation to FINRA and was subsequently fired by the firm.
Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments has faced FINRA arbitration complaints from customers seeking to recover investment losses. The following Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments brokers may have recommended GPB Capital funds to clients:
- William Henry Platt; and
- John Kevin Stophel.
If you lost money in GPB funds with Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments, you may have a claim.
The SEC has charged GPB Capital, Ascendant Capital, and Ascendant Alternative Strategies with running a Ponzi-like scheme that raised roughly $1.8 billion from securities issued by GPB Capital. The SEC believes that as many as 17,000 retail investors nationwide have been defrauded.
Nearly $1.7 billion of that total was invested in GPB Capital’s four flagship funds:
- GPB Holdings, LP / GPB Holdings Qualified, LP (“Holdings Qualified”) (collectively, “Holdings I”), launched in March 2013;
- GPB Automotive Portfolio, LP (“Automotive Portfolio”), launched in May 2013;
- GPB Holdings II, LP (“Holdings II”), launched in April 2015; and
- GPB Waste Management, LP (“Waste Management”), launched in August 2016.
If you invested in the GPB funds with Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments, contact New York securities arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account. We have nearly 20 years of combined experience as securities arbitration lawyers and have helped investors recover investment losses in over 1,000 cases. Our firm will file a FINRA arbitration claim on your behalf on a contingency fee basis to try to recover your losses. If we do not obtain a recovery, you do not owe us a legal fee.
Related actions have also been initiated all over the country. The New York State Attorney General filed a complaint against GPB Capital. According to the complaint, as of June 2019, GPB Capital estimated the fair market value of its funds’ portfolio assets at approximately $1 billion – representing a more than 40% loss on investors’ initial capital contributions. The exact portfolio asset values are unknown, as the funds have not issued audited financials since 2016.
In addition to the State of New York, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, South Carolina, and Alabama have initiated similar legal proceedings.
You can read more about our firm’s investigation into the GPB funds and the SEC action here.
How to Recover Losses or Obtain a Free Consultation
When an investor suffers investment losses due to misconduct by a financial advisor or broker-dealer, the investor can file a securities arbitration claim against their financial advisor and/or broker-dealer in an effort to be compensated.
Iorio Altamirano LLP is a securities arbitration law firm located in New York, NY. We represent investors nationwide and vigorously pursue FINRA arbitration claims on behalf of investors to recover investment losses.
If you have lost money on the GPB funds with Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments, contact securities arbitration lawyers August Iorio and Jorge Altamirano of Iorio Altamirano LLP at august@ia-law.com, jorge@ia-law.com or toll-free at (855) 430-4010 for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.
Iorio Altamirano LLP is a bilingual law firm, fluent in both English and Spanish.