Investor Lawyers Blog
Securities fraud attorneys are currently investigating claims on behalf of customers of full-service brokerage firms for unsuitable sales of leveraged and inverse ETFs, or exchange-traded funds. On January 9, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it ordered Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc. and Century Securities Associates Inc. to pay $475,000 in restitution and $550,000 in fines regarding the sales of leveraged and inverse ETFs to 65 customers.
Stifel and Century, both affiliate broker-dealers based in St. Louis, are owned by Stifel Financial Corp. According to stock fraud lawyers, leveraged and inverse ETFs are designed to meet daily objectives and “reset” each day. As a result, the performance of these investments can diverge from the performance of the underlying benchmark or index very quickly. Naturally, this problem is exacerbated in volatile markets.
According to securities fraud attorneys, because of the nature of these investments, leveraged and inverse ETF investors can suffer enormous losses, even if there is a gain in the index performance over the long-term.