LPL Gets Hit With Another Lawsuit; This Time From Heiress of Knotts Berry Farm

Soreide Law Group- Securities Arbitration Law Firm - (888) 760-6552 stated in a blog from this website dated March 13th., 2013, LPL Financial, LLC, is now the nation’s fourth-largest brokerage firm — after Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch — and the largest in much of rural America. LPL’s explosive growth has brought the difficulties regulators face in overseeing far-flung financial advisers.

LPL has been censured by state and federal authorities with unusual frequency. LPL brokers have been penalized for selling complex investments to unsophisticated investors, for speculative trading in customer accounts, and, in a few cases, for outright stealing from clients.

It was since reported on March 25, 2013, Maureen Sloan, 63, of Newport Beach, Calif., an heiress to the Knott's Berry Farm theme park, has filed an $8.5 million arbitration claim against LPL Financial LLC. Ms Sloan claims former LPL broker, Alberto Neira, stole $4.5 million from her through a fraudulent auto-financing scheme called Silver Oak Leasing. Ms. Sloan said she lost another $4 million in unsuitable trading of preferred stock.

Also her daughter, Cynthia von Hoffman, 46, is part of the case, which was filed last Thursday with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. Ms. Hoffman alleges she lost $700,000 in Silver Oak, plus another $1 million from inappropriate trading.

Neira was terminated January, 2011, for failing to fully disclose participation in outside business activity and selling away in violation of firm policies, according to FINRA records. In November, 2012, FINRA barred Neira from the industry after he failed to respond to Finra's request for information regarding $2 million in Silver Oak investments made by 14 LPL clients. FINRA said Neira failed to disclose that he was a paid director of Silver Oak, not just a passive investor, as he had claimed.

LPL overhead costs are relatively low, so the company can pass a large percentage of commissions and fees — upward of 80 percent — back to its brokers. Because the brokers, in many instances are essentially independent contractors, paying their own expenses, this leads to supervision problems, allegedly attracting brokers for all the wrong reasons.

If you or a family member have experienced losses through LPL Financial, call a Securities Arbitration Lawyer for a free consultation on how to potentially recover your losses at 888-760-6552.