On October 22, 2012, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered David Lerner Associates (DLA) to pay $12 million in restitution to customers who purchased Apple REIT Ten and customers charged excessive markups.
DLA, its founder David Lerner, and the head trader were fined $2.3 million. FINRA suspended Lerner from the securities industry for one year, followed by a two-year suspension from acting as a principal.
According the FINRA newsrelease, which may be accessed here, Lerner:
"personally made false claims regarding the investment returns, market values, and performance prospects of the Apple REITs at numerous DLA investment seminars and in letters to customers. To encourage sales of Apple REIT Ten and discourage redemptions of shares of the closed REITs, he characterized the Apple REITs as, for example, a "fabulous cash cow" or a "gold mine" and he made unfounded predictions regarding a merger and public listing of the closed Apple REITs, which he inappropriately claimed would result in a "windfall" to investors."
According to Brad Bennett, Executive VP and Chief of FINRA Enforcement,
"David Lerner and his firm targeted unsophisticated and elderly customers, grossly failing to comply with basic standards of suitability in selling Apple REIT Ten to thousands of customers. "
If you were sold Apple REIT Ten, or any of the prior Apple REITs you may be able to recover some or all of your losses through FINRA arbitration. Please contact us for a free consultation. We have been helping investors recover stock market losses for more than 20 years.
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Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.