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TAG | Morgan Stanley

May/12

23

Facebook and Banks Sued

Comments off · Posted by Securities Lawyer in FINRA

As of today, Facebook (FB) shares have fallen roughly 18.4 percent from their $38 IPO price, within the first three days of trading, reducing the value of stock sold in the IPO by more than $2.9 billion.

It was announced that Facebook, Inc., Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, and the banks, including Morgan Stanley, are being sued by shareholders,  claiming the defendants hid Facebook’s weakened growth forecasts ahead of its $16 billion initial public offering.

One lawsuit, was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan today, Wednesday, May 23, 2012, and another yesterday,Tuesday, May 22, 2012, in a California state court.

The New York complaint stated, “The value of Facebook common stock has declined substantially and plaintiffs and the class have sustained damages as a result.”

Shareholders in the New York case said research analysts at several underwriters had lowered their business forecasts for Facebook during the IPO process. They said that these changes were “selectively disclosed by defendants to certain preferred investors” rather than to the general public.

The defendants were accused of allegedly concealing from investors during the IPO marketing process “a severe and pronounced reduction” in revenue growth forecasts, resulting from increased use of its app or website through mobile devices.

“The value of Facebook common stock has declined substantially and plaintiffs and the class have sustained damages as a result,” the complaint said.

Securities Lawyer, Lars K. Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, PLLC, has represented clients nationwide. If you or a family member have sustained investment losses due to your stock broker or financial advisor’s recommendations in Facebook (FB) stock, call for a free consultation on how to potentially recover your losses. To speak with an attorney call 888-760-6552, or visit our website at: http://www.securitieslawyer.com.

Soreide Law Group, PLLC., representing investors nationwide before FINRA the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

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May/12

2

DID YOU INVEST IN THESE LEVERAGED ETFs?

Comments off · Posted by Securities Lawyer in FINRA

Soreide Law Group is filing FINRA Arbitrations on behalf of investors who invested in Direxion 3x Funds: FAZ, ERY, BGZ, and TZA. 

Leveraged ETF’s have now imploded and regulators and investors have finally woken up and are beginning to pay attention. Major fines have just been handed down to the industries top brokerage houses for sales practices relating to leveraged ETFs.
 
These funds seek 3 times the performance or benchmark of the fund or index they are tracking. They are highly leveraged and were designed for a day trade (not buy and hold). Many brokers misunderstood the makeup of these leveraged exchange traded funds or ETFs and held them as long positions. Over time due to the derivative nature of these products, many of these named ETFs began to cannibalized themselves and not perform as promised.
 
If your stock broker sold you leveraged ETFs such as FAZ, ERY, BGZ or TZA from Direxion and held them for more than several days which resulted in losses, you may be able to recoup those losses through the FINRA arbitration process.
 
FINRA released a Regulatory Notice 09-31 which specifically outlined brokerage firms sales practice obligations relating to leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds. In FINRA notice 09-31 states, “Most leveraged and inverse ETFs ‘reset’ daily, meaning that they are designed to achieve their stated objectives on a daily basis. Due to the effect of compounding, their performance over longer periods of time can differ significantly from the performance (or inverse of the performance) of their underlying index or benchmark during the same period of time.” Many brokers failed to heed this warning and were negligent in their recommendations to hold these positions for the long term.
 
Several firms were recently fined $9 million by FINRA for selling risky ETFs as a buy and hold strategy to their unsuspecting investors. These firms include household names such as Wells Fargo, UBS, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley. Soreide Law Group is also investigating similar sales practices by smaller brokerage firms that may have made the same negligent recommendations including J.P. Turner & Co., National Securities Corporation, Rockwell Global Capital, K.C. Ward Financial, Merrill Lynch, Newbridge Securities Corporation, Obsidian Financial, and Legend Securities.
 
Soreide Law Group warned investors through our blog and marketing materials as early as 2009 against buying and holding leveraged ETFs, and we have been filing lawsuits related to sales practices surrounding leveraged ETFs against brokerage firms nationwide since then.
 
If you or a loved one invested in a leveraged ETF that was held as a long position at the advice of your broker call (888)760-6552 or visit http://www.securitieslawyer.com.

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