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Violation Tracker Individual Record

Company: David Lerner Associates, Inc.
Penalty: $14,300,000
Year: 2012
Date: October 22, 2012
Offense Group: financial offenses
Primary Offense: investor protection violation
Secondary Offense: financial institution supervision failures
Violation Description: The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered David Lerner Associates, Inc. (DLA) of Syosset, NY, to pay approximately $12 million in restitution to affected customers who purchased shares in Apple REIT Ten, a non-traded $2 billion Real Estate Investment Trust DLA sold, and to customers who were charged excessive markups. As the sole distributor of the Apple REITs, DLA solicited thousands of customers, targeting unsophisticated investors and the elderly, selling the illiquid REIT without performing adequate due diligence to determine whether it was suitable for investors. To sell Apple REIT Ten, DLA also used misleading marketing materials that presented performance results for the closed Apple REITs without disclosing to customers that income from those REITs was insufficient to support the distributions to unit owners. FINRA also fined DLA more than $2.3 million for charging unfair prices on municipal bonds and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) it sold over a 30 month period, and for related supervisory violations.
Level of Government: federal
Action Type: agency action
Agency: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
Civil or Criminal Case: civil
Source of Data: (click here)
Notes: FINRA is a securities industry self-regulatory body authorized by the federal government.
Source Notes: If an online information source is not working, check the Violation Tracker Data Sources page for an updated link.
Current parent company note: Parent-subsidiary relationship is current as of the most recent revision listed in the Update Log.