Ponzi Allegations Rip GPB Capital Funds, Details Scam that Brokers Ignored!

Stoltmann Law Offices continues to investigate and file cases on behalf of investors in connection with the GPB Capital Funds.  On November 6, 2019, a new lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas, in Austin, that provides a new level of detail about the scam being run by GPB Capital for the last six years or so. The complaint is filed as a class-action complaint on behalf of an investor, and all similarly situated, in any of the several GPB Capital Funds. The case, Barasch v. GPB Capital Holdings, et al., Case No. 19-cv-01079, alleged civil conspiracy, fraud, and violations of various securities laws. The complaint offers a glimpse into the multiple layers of gross conflicts of interest that permeated, intentionally, throughout the entire GPB Capital universe. From the auditors to the placement agents, at every level of the organization, conflicts existed from which GPB Capital actively sought, and did, capitalize. The complaint alleges that the 8% return guaranteed by GPB Capital was a farce. The truth is, according to the allegations, the 8% distributions were paid with other investor money, or the actual investor’s money meaning it was actually a return OF investment, as opposed to a return ON investment. The complaint references misleading and fraudulent account statements generated by GPB Capital representing these payments as “distributions” when in reality the fund was robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Stoltmann Law Offices has been retained by dozens of investors to purse claims involving GPB Capital Holdings, including the following GPB Funds:

• • GPB Automotive Portfolio, LP
  • GPB Waste Management Fund,
  • GPB Holdings Fund I,
  • GPB Holdings Fund II,
  • GPB Holdings Fund III,
  • GPB New York Development, LP, and
  • GPB Cold Storage, LP

We are NOT involved in the class actions because Stoltmann Law Offices is certain the best and quickest way to recover investment losses is through FINRA Arbitration actions against the brokerage firms that sold GPB Capital. The list of red flags apparent from the Private Placement Memorandum alone were sufficient for brokerage firms and financial advisors to simply refuse to sell this investment to their clients. Stoltmann Law Offices has successfully argued in both arbitration and federal court, see Ginzkey, et al. v. National Securities Corp., 18-1773, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS  95402 (W.D. Wash. June 6, 2019), that this gate-keeper duty owed by broker/dealers does exist and it is a critical part of protecting investor-clients from scam-private offerings like GPB Capital.  This gate-keeper requirement is founded in FINRA rules and regulations, including the Suitability Rule which is FINRA Rule 2111.05, FINRA Regulatory Notice 10-22, amongst others.

The brokerage firms we are pursuing on behalf of our investor-clients to recover their losses include:

• • National Securities Corp.
  • David A. Noyes
  • Westpark Capital
  • Madison Avenue Securities
  • FSC Securities
  • Cetera Advisors
  • Uhlmann Price
  • Money Concepts
  • Kalos Capital

Class action lawsuits take years and in the securities context can be extremely difficult to win, especially against a defendant like GPB Capital that may end being little more than a smoking carcass once the regulators currently investigating the company, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, drop their respective hammers. After all is said and done, there may be little left to GPB Capital by the time the class action gets to the settlement stage, which will be years away. Importantly, nothing prevents investors at this stage to pursue both their brokerage firms and participate in the GPB class action. They are mutually exclusive.

FINRA arbitration actions against the brokerage firms responsible for selling these investments to investors, on the other hand, typically take less than one year from start to finish. If you are an investor in GPB Capital, and you want your money back, the fastest way to do that is to pursue a FINRA Arbitration case against the brokerage firm who solicited you to invest in the first place. The service we offer our GPB clients is a standard contingency fee arrangement where the investor does not pay a dime unless we recover money first. If you are an investor in any of the GPB Capital Holdings Funds, please contact Stoltmann Law Offices in Chicago at 312-332-4200 for a no-obligation consultation with an experienced securities attorney.