Notwithstanding the fact that these financial advisors were basically forced to leave UBS and their business has suffered as a result, UBS has sent the advisors a demand letter for the amounts they owe on their promissory note agreements and has indicated that they intend to file claims against these financial advisors for breach of contract if the matters are not quickly resolved.

We are investigating whether other UBS financial advisors were similarly forced to leave the firm as a result of the elimination of any trading platforms. Such information would assist us in demonstrating that UBS’s failure to provide these financial advisors with the necessary trading platform to conduct their business was a firm wide issue that impacted many financial advisors.

If you have any information that would assist us in our investigation, please contact our Chicago, Illinois office at 312-238-9650.

The White Law Group is a national securities litigation law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. The firm is intimately familiar with the unique issues involved in promissory note cases, often representing financial advisors in promissory note litigation matters, and having (in the past) handled promissory note litigation cases on behalf of many of the larger broker-dealers (including Banc of America Investment Services, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, and Ameriprise).

For more information on the firm, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

According to his FINRA Broker Report (CRD), Robert Lipka was a registered representative with Raymond James in Westport, Connecticut. Prior to working at Raymond James, Mr. Lipka was a registered representative with A.G. Edwards.

If you have any information that may assist The White Law Group in its investigation into Mr. Lipka’s sales practices, please contact our Chicago, Illinois office at 312-238-9650.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. The firm primarily handles these cases on a contingency fee. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

In the case we are investigating, Mr. Adams recommended that the investor purchase a John Hancock annuity.

If you have any information that may assist The White Law Group in its investigation into Mr. Adam’s annuity sales practices, please contact our Chicago, Illinois office at 312-238-9650.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. The firm primarily handles these cases on a contingency fee. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

As a result of misrepresentations regarding these funds, many investors who thought they were receiving a conservative high income fund have suffered extraordinary losses. The Oppenheimer Champion Fund dropped 55% in November of 2008 alone. The Core Bond Fund lost more than 35 percent of its value in 2008 and another 10 percent in the first three months of 2009.

The verbal representations made by financial advisors, the marketing material used by these stockbrokers, and even the prospectus issued by Oppenheimer, portrayed the Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund and Oppenheimer Core Bond Fund as no riskier than the average high income fund. As such, the funds were improperly marketed to many investors (including retirees) that could not afford the risk to which they were then subjected.

The losses incurred in the Champion fund appear to be the result of large bets in high risk derivatives in the form of mortgage backed securities and credit default swaps. These are highly illiquid, speculative and complex agreements between parties to exchange cash flows in the future based on how a set of securities performs. It appears that the Champion Fund was betting that top-rated commercial mortgage-backed securities would rally in 2008. The Fund took an extraordinary risk that was not in line with the objectives set forth in the Prospectus, and a risk that was not disclosed to the investing public.

Additionally, the Champion Fund was also concentrated in credit-default swaps (CDSs). CDSs are basically insurance contracts that protect investors against bond and loan defaults. As the market for commercial properties deteriorated amid the slowing economy, the Fund’s value dropped precipitously. It appears that the Fund was even selling CDSs on troubled companies like Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., American International Group Inc., General Motors Corp. and the Tribune Co. Many of those firms have since collapsed or filed for bankruptcy.

Investors from throughout the country have been affected by this Oppenheimer securities fraud, including investors in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Texas, California, Washington, and New York. Many of the investors purchased the investment at the recommendation of their broker-dealer or financial advisor, and these entities have potential liability for failing to properly perform due diligence regarding the Oppenheimer funds prior to recommending them to their clients. Other investors purchased shares of the Oppenheimer Core Bond Fund through their 529 college savings plans, such as those in Oregon, Texas, Maine, Illinois and New Mexico, or through their retirement plans or annuities.

If you have any information that may assist The White Law Group in its investigation into these Oppenheimer funds, please contact our Chicago, Illinois office at 312-238-9650.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. The firm primarily handles these cases on a contingency fee. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

As such, anyone contemplating an investment in a REIT (particularly a private or unlisted Real Estate Investment Trust), should consider the motivations of the broker and brokerage firm selling it.

Unlisted REITs are particularly problematic investments because they are not traded on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq market. Accordingly, they can be difficult for investors to sell and difficult for investors (or brokerage firms) to accurately value.

To overcome marketplace concerns, the managers and operators of private REITs typically offer brokers and brokerage firms higher commissions to sell their products to retail investors.

This strong commission-based motivation to sell unlisted and listed REITs has not gone unnoticed by regulators. In March 2009, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), began questioning multiple brokerage firms about their sales and promotion practices related to private or non-traded REITs.

In 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. with fraud and accused the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based broker-dealer of receiving millions of dollars in secret payments as a condition of offering and selling certain REITs to its brokerage clients.

Ameriprise agreed to settle the charges without admitting wrongdoing and pay $17.3 million, the SEC said.

According to the SEC order: “Ameriprise received approximately $30.8 million in undisclosed compensation in connection with Ameriprise’s offer and sale to its brokerage customers of certain real estate investment trusts (‘REITs’) between 2000 and May 2004 … Ameriprise demanded this undisclosed compensation, which it referred to as ‘revenue sharing,’ in exchange for including the REITs on Ameriprise’s brokerage platform.”

FINRA also issued a regulatory notice (09-09) in February 2009 regarding additional concerns about post-sale representations surrounding private and unlisted REITs. In the regulatory notice, FINRA reminded brokers and brokerage firms of some of their obligations to investors: Specifically, once unlisted REIT customers have owned their investment for a while, their monthly statements should begin to contain a reasonably current estimated per share value of the unlisted REIT investment.

FINRA also reminded brokers and brokerage firms that they are prohibited from using a per share estimated value that’s based on data that’s more than 18 months old compared to the customer’s account statement date. According to FINRA, “ … firms must not use par value in a customer account statement more than 18 months following the conclusion of an offering, unless an appraisal of the program’s assets and operations yields the same value.”

The staleness of data used to value these unlisted REITs is particularly important due to the illiquid nature of these investments.

Notwithstanding the SEC and FINRA’s actions, abuse of unlisted and listed REITs is ongoing. If you have questions regarding a REIT investment you made, or if you believe that you have been the victim of a securities fraud, The White Law Group may be able to help. The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. The firm has over 30 years of experience reviewing securities fraud claims throughout the country. To contact the firm, please call 312-238-9650. Or, for more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

The firm has offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida because of the obvious benefits of being located so close to the FINRA Dispute Resolutions offices in those cities (FINRA’s Southeast headquarters is located at Boca Center Tower 1, 5200 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton, FL 33486- less than one mile from our office, and FINRA’s Midwest headquarters is located at 55 West Monroe Street, Suite 2600, Chicago, IL 60603-1002- close to the firm’s Chicago office).

Having our offices located so close to FINRA’s regional headquarters has its advantages, particularly since all cases filed in the southeast portion of the United States are administered out of FINRA’s Boca Raton, Florida Dispute Resolution office, and all cases in the Midwest portion of the United States are administered out of FINRA’s Chicago, Illinois Dispute Resolution office.

Although located in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida, The White Law Group handles securities fraud cases throughout the country and Kentucky, including reviewing securities fraud cases in Lexington, Louisville, Frankfurt, and Bowling Green. With over 30 years of securities law experience, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. To contact The White Law Group, please call 312-238-9650. Or, for more information about The White Law Group or securities fraud, you can also visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

Not only has Morgan Stanley’s funds suffered staggering losses, but Morgan Stanley reportedly paid itself hefty fees including $104 million in “transaction fees,” $22 million in “fund-management fees,” $13 million in “financing fees,” $36 million in “real-estate management fees,” and $21 million in “financial advisory fees.”

If you have any information that may assist The White Law Group in its investigation, please contact our Chicago office at 312-238-9650.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

According to his FINRA Broker Report (CRD), prior to working as a registered representative with MetLife Securities, Casuccio was registered with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and The O.N. Equity Sales Company.

If you have questions regarding investments you made with Shawn Casuccio or MetLife Securities, or if you believe that you have been the victim of a securities fraud, The White Law Group may be able to help. The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. The firm has over 30 years of experience reviewing securities fraud claims throughout the country and West Virginia, including reviewing securities fraud claims in Morgantown, Charleston, Clarksburg, Parkersburg, and Huntington. To contact the firm, please call 312-238-9650. Or, for more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

We are currently investigating possible securities fraud claims involving the following investments or type of investments:

(1) Investments in DBSI, Inc. or DBSI TICs (tenants in common), particularly those solicited by Royal Alliance, Independent Financial Group, and Questar
(2) ING variable annuities and ING’s variable annuity sales practices
(3) Ameritas and Pacific Life variable annuity and life insurance sales practices
(4) UBS proprietary products and mutual funds sales practices
(5) Investments in Citigroup structured products such as ELKS
(6) Investments in Medical Capital, particularly those solicited by Securities America
(7) Morgan Stanley active trading practices (and possible churning), as well as margin investing
(8) RBC Capital (f/k/a RBC Dain Rauscher) suitability standards for elderly investors
(9) Investments in emerging markets (in particular Chinese companies) solicited by Brookstone Securities
(10) Raymond James’ variable annuity sales practices
(11) Morgan Keegan funds
(12) Lehman Brothers’ 100% principal protected promissory notes

If you have any information that may assist us in our current investigations, on if you believe that you have been the victim of a securities fraud, please contact our offices at either 561-238-9650 or 561-961-5411. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

The firm has offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida. The White Law Group has its offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida because of the obvious benefits of being located so close to the FINRA Dispute Resolutions offices in those cities (FINRA’s Southeast headquarters is located at Boca Center Tower 1, 5200 Town Center Circle, Boca Raton, FL 33486- less than one mile from our office, and FINRA’s Midwest headquarters is located at 55 West Monroe Street, Suite 2600, Chicago, IL 60603-1002- close to the firm’s Chicago office).

Having our offices located so close to FINRA’s regional headquarters has its advantages, particularly since all cases filed in the southeast portion of the United States are administered out of FINRA’s Boca Raton, Florida Dispute Resolution office, and all cases in the Midwest portion of the United States are administered out of FINRA’s Chicago, Illinois Dispute Resolution office.

Although located in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida, The White Law Group handles securities fraud cases throughout the country and Michigan, including reviewing securities fraud cases in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Holland, Lansing, Kentwood, Detroit, Ann Harbor, Flint, and Traverse City. With over 30 years of securities law experience, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions. To contact The White Law Group, please call 312-238-9650. Or, for more information about The White Law Group or securities fraud, you can also visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.