Tasty Brands Lawsuit against CENTER STREET & MICHAEL P ECKER

Soreide Law Group has filed a FINRA arbitration on behalf of our clients (Claimants) against:

CENTER STREET SECURITIES, INC., and their former registered representative,

MICHAEL P ECKER. (Respondents)

The Claimants are retired and living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Claimant allegedly met MICHAEL P ECKER at a dinner seminar for retirees in 2016 and opened an account with him at his previous firm Kovack Securities. The Claimants were looking for conservative investments that could generate stable income to sustain them through retirement without any risk of loss to their principal. The Claimants followed MICHAEL P ECKER to CENTER STREET SECURITIES in Lake Worth, Florida, where he allegedly concentrated the majority of their assets into illiquid investments including but not limited to Tasty Brands, Braemar and GWG L Bonds.

The lawsuit alleges MICHAEL P ECKER described all these illiquid investments as safe and less risky than the stock market. Tasty Brands is a large company that owns fast-casual restaurant brands. On their sponsor’s website, Triton Pacific Securities, LLC, it states in part that “an investment in Tasty is speculative, illiquid and involves a high degree of risk as well as the potential loss of an investor’s entire investment.” Tasty Brands has stopped its distributions and GWG has filed bankruptcy.  The Claimants needed liquidity to support their increasing needs and future needs of medical care and assisted living. The lawsuit alleges that it was inappropriate to concentrate their assets into investments that have no market and no liquidity. According to the lawsuit many red flags and warnings on these investments were allegedly never presented to the Claimants.

The lawsuit alleges that CENTER STREET SECURITIES and their former representative, MICHAEL P ECKER’s actions have caused damages to the Claimants of approximately $300,000.00. The lawsuit alleges negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and negligent supervision.

According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, available to the public on FINRA’s website, MICHAEL P ECKER, has been in the securities industry for 26 years and was listed with 17 firms.  Ecker has 9 disclosures on his FINRA CRD report. Of the 9 disclosures, 7 are “Customer Disputes.” The significance of Ecker’s FINRA Customer Complaints is underscored in FINRA NOTICE to MEMBERS 03-49. FINRA conducted a review of the CRD’s of all registered representatives, only .41% had been the subject of 3 or more customer complaints. In other words Ecker’s customer complaints rank him in the top one-hundredth percent of all registered representatives for customer complaints. 

If you or an elderly loved on have experienced financial losses due to the actions or recommendations of CENTER STREET SECURITIES, Lake Worth, Florida, and/or their former registered representative, MICHAEL P ECKER, contact the Florida-based Soreide Law Group and speak to an experienced securities lawyer at no cost regarding the possible recovery of your investment losses through a FINRA arbitration at:  888-760-6552.

Soreide Law Group represents our clients nationwide before FINRA on a contingency fee basis.  No fee to you if no recovery.