Investor Lawyers Blog
Investors in Woodbridge, either through a First Position Commercial Mortgage (commonly referred to as a “FPCM” or “note”) or in any Woodbridge “units” upon the recommendation of former broker David Ferdwerda (CRD# 832431) may be able to recover your losses through securities arbitration. As recently disclosed by FINRA, as of October 30, 2018, FINRA barred registered representative David Carl Ferdwerda (“Ferdwerda”) from the securities industry due to his purported failure to provide requested documents and information to FINRA concerning his sales of Woodbridge securities.
According to publicly available FINRA records, from 2012 through March 2018, Mr. Ferdwerda was affiliated with broker-dealer Signator Investors, Inc. (BD No. 468) (“Signator”) in the firm’s Grand Rapids, MI office. Further, FINRA BrokerCheck indicates that Mr. Ferdwerda was discharged from his employment with Signator on or about March 20, 2018 due to his alleged “Involvement in the sale of unapproved outside investments in violation of firm policy.” Through his alleged nonresponsiveness to FINRA Enforcement’s investigation, Mr. Ferdwerda neither admitted nor denied FINRA’s findings.
As has been alleged by the SEC, Woodbridge and its owner and former CEO, Mr. Robert Shapiro, purportedly “used his web of more than 275 Limited Liability Companies to conduct a massive Ponzi scheme raising more than $1.22 billion from over 8,400 unsuspecting investors nationwide through fraudulent unregistered securities offerings.” According to Steven Peiken, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, the Woodbridge “[b]usiness model was a sham. The only way that Woodbridge was able to pay investors their dividends and interest payments was through the constant infusion of new investor money.”