Investor Lawyers Blog
If you have invested with financial advisor Lisa J. Lowi (a/k/a Lisa Jacqueline Lowi, Lisa Lowi, Lisa Jacqueline Vineberg) (CRD# 1347790) and have sustained losses, you may be able to recover your losses in FINRA arbitration. According to publicly available information through FINRA, on November 3, 2017, Ms. Lowi consented to being barred from the securities industry. Specifically, FINRA enforcement sent Ms. Lowi a written request for on-the-record testimony earlier this year, and following her refusal to appear for testimony, FINRA proceeded to bar Ms. Lowi from future work as a registered representative soliciting securities, effective November 3, 2017. Before being barred, Ms. Lowi was a long-time financial advisor, having first entered the industry in 1985. Ms. Lowi was most recently associated with RBC Capital Markets, LLC (“RBC”) (CRD# 31194) (2009-2015), and most recently, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC (“Janney Montgomery”) (CRD# 463) (2015-2016).
FINRA BrokerCheck indicates that Ms. Lowi has been named as a Respondent or otherwise involved in a total of thirty-seven (37) customer disputes. Review of BrokerCheck appears to indicate that many of these disputes concern allegedly unsuitable investments in high-risk and speculative “junk bonds” in the oil and gas sector. A number of Ms. Lowi’s former clients have alleged that she overconcentrated their investment portfolios in speculative junk bonds. Generally, junk bonds are a high-risk / high-yield investment that offer the potential for enhanced income, in exchange for the increased risk of default. In the event of default, an investor will no longer receive periodic bond coupon (or interest) payments.
Investing in an appropriate allocation of junk bonds may possibly be part of an overall appropriate investment strategy, provided the investor is fully informed of the risks such that he or she is capable of absorbing potential losses. However, overconcentrating an investor in junk bonds is likely a recipe for disaster, particularly in instances where the investor’s stated investment objectives and risk profile suggest that investing in junk bonds is unsuitable.