Investor Lawyers Blog
Securities fraud attorneys are currently investigating claims on behalf of investors who suffered significant losses as a result of their financial investments with Jeffrey A. Cashmore and LPL Financial. According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority allegations against him, Cashmore prepared and distributed sales literature to prospective and current customers that was misleading. Furthermore, he allegedly failed to retain copies of the misleading sales literature, a violation of NASD Conduct Rules. The alleged misconduct reportedly occurred between November 1994 and October 2012, while Cashmore was registered with LPL.
According to FINRA’s findings, Cashmore distributed “Power Optimizer” packages during the relevant period, which is at least from January 2006 through December 2010. These packages consisted of documents that contained investment information and portfolio recommendations and typically included a Cash Flow Report, a Power Optimizer Report, a Portfolio Recommendations/Asset Allocation page, a Fee and Asset Summary Report and Morningstar Reports for each recommended mutual fund. These packages were distributed to at least 100 clients and potential clients. However, according to stock fraud lawyers and FINRA, these packages contained misleading information. Specifically, FINRA says the documents provided incomplete and oversimplified information which did not provide a sound basis for investors to be able to evaluate facts about the information provided by the package.
Reportedly, the Cash Flow Report’s cash flow summary was based on only one projected rated of return, rather than including alternate cash flow scenarios, and did not include any possible cash flows that would illustrate a negative rate of return. Furthermore, the Morningstar Reports allegedly included in the package all addressed Class A investments while Cashmore recommended and sold Class C investments almost exclusively. Securities fraud attorneys say that Class A and C investments have differing rates of return, surrender charges and fees, despite being similar investments when in the same mutual fund.