Investors who invested with brokers or firms, such as Raymond James Financial, in the now-defunct Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) suite of products, and subsequently lost their investments may have a claim for damages against broker-dealers or representatives who recommended the investment, partially because of the unsuitable nature of Northstar for many retail customers.
The largely international Northstar Financial Services offerings, including variable and fixed rate investment contracts, became a liability for many customers when the firm ran into financial trouble, bankruptcy, and likely liquidation in the wake of owner Greg Lindberg's arrest on fraud charges.
As FINRA, the SEC, and/or other investigators and securities personnel unravel the complex web of Northstar Investments, one seeming constant has been brokers and investment advisers recommending Northstar products to customers for whom the investment was unsuitable.
Several firms have seen the spotlight of investigating potential claims regarding their sales practices relative to Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda), and Raymond James is the latest firm to be probed.
Brokers who made unsuitable recommendations of Northstar products are those who pushed Northstar on clients despite the client's conservative, low, or moderate risk tolerance levels.
In some cases, brokers not only unsuitably recommended Northstar, they might have recommended customers concentrate a high percentage of their overall wealth in Northstar products, well above firm and industry limits meant to protect customers from concentration risk.
Some brokers may have even misrepresented Northstar entirely, inappropriately telling customers that the investments were guaranteed or lower risk than they actually were, while other representatives may have omitted material facts such as sales charges and other fees associated with Northstar products.
If you invested with Raymond James or another brokerage firm in Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) products which were unsuitably recommended given your investment preferences or risk tolerance level, resulting in damages as Northstar itself collapsed, please call an experienced FINRA arbitration attorney at The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.