When Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) inched closer to liquidation in 2021, it placed its investors in financial jeopardy as customers who purchased Northstar products stood to suffer significant losses.
These same customers may be entitled to damages and claims against the broker-dealers who sold them Northstar products, especially if the sales of these complex and risky products, such as notes and annuities, were unsuitably recommended or if the broker who marketed them failed to perform adequate due diligence on the products.
Like Northstar/Global Bankers owner Greg Linberg (originally from San Mateo, California)'s 2019 conviction of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery, Beechwood Bermuda International was also linked to fraud. For Beechwood, it was a $1 billion fraud case in the United States.
Cetera Investment Services, including its wealth management division in East West Bank, may be one such firm that sold Northstar and/or Beechwood products, for instance.
Because Northstar Financial Service (Bermuda) was effectively sold globally (the firm featured staff that represented Asia, Middle East, Africa, and both North / South America, to name a few), it may have provided a special avenue for sales in foreign languages or locations investors may have been more comfortable with.
Misconduct that occurs in such transactions is known as affinity fraud, which refers largely to investment scams and other harmful securities business that targets certain groups, such as those organized around religion or faith, culture, occupation, or charity.
As an example, when the SEC charged two California men with luring 500 investors in the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan into an unrelated $80 million Ponzi scheme, perpetuated by the fraudsters' foreign language ad placement in Korean-American newspapers, they, according to the SEC, committed affinity fraud by targeting clients of Asian descent.
Relative to the Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) investments, firms in addition to Cetera Investment Services that may have improperly sold these products to clients include Suntrust Investment Services aka Truist Financial Corporation, Bankoh Investment Services, Hancock Whitney Investment Services, JP Morgan Securities, Ocean Financial Services, Raymond James Financial Services, and Unionbanc Investment Services.
Even worse Northstar's own website warned that its products may be unlawful in the United States or to be marketed to customers in the United States. If a broker, despite this disclaimer, still recommended a Northstar product in the US, that broker and their firm may be liable for damages.
If you invested with a broker or financial adviser at one of these firms or another FINRA-registered brokerage who improperly sold you securities offered by Northstar Financial Services (Bermuda) or Beechwood Bermuda International, despite Northstar's warning against its products in the United States, and have suffered losses as a result of these unsuitable recommendations, 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.