GPB Capital and three key executives were charged with fraud earlier this year. However, the big story is the number of complaints rising against financial advisors and brokerages. Former Madison Avenue Securities broker and investment advisor Jeffrey Dixson have run up a long list of disputes and claims on his FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) broker record.
People familiar with the GPB Capital situation think that situation is going to get much worse for brokerage firms and advisors that sold the products. Current investigations show that often a small number of financial advisors at firms were responsible for most of the sales. This could be potentially a huge problem for broker-dealers.
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Jeffrey Dixson | Madison Avenue Complaints & Lawsuits
The list of disclosures pertaining to the last two years on his record:
|
Date | Claim/ Allegation | Claim/ Outcome |
July 2019 | An unsuitable investment that led to poor performance. | Settlement for $85K |
August 2019 | Alternative investment fraud. | Settlement for $136K |
September 2019 | Unsuitable investment, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and elder abuse. Brought in Oregon. | Settlement for $200K |
November 2019 | Unsuitable recommendation for different alternative investments as well as fixed index annuities. | Settlement for $52,500 |
February 2020 | Supervisory failure, poor performance, lack of due diligence, and elder abuse for investment in GPB Capital. | Settlement for $52,500 |
April 2020 | FINRA arbitration case filed in Texas. Investment in GPB Capital. | Settlement for $89,500 |
April 2020 | GPB Capital investment fraud. | Settlement for $100K |
May 2020 | Alternative investment fraud case filed in Washington State. Allegations include overconcentration, unsuitability, omissions and misrepresentations. | $1.28M sough in damages |
August 2020 | Investment fraud related to GPB Capital and one more alternative investment. | $100K sought in damages |
August 2020 | GPB Capital investment losses | Settlement for $120.991 |
September 2020 | GPB Automotive fraud with an allegation of unsuitability and due diligence failure | $50K sough in damages |
October 2020 | Unsuitable investment recommendation pertaining to GPB. | Unspecified claim |
November 2020 | Unsuitable investment recommendation for GPB Auto. | $200K sought in damages |
November 2020 | Unsuitable recommendations pertaining to GPB and a few other alternative investments. | $151,507 sought in damages |
April 2021 | Unsuitable recommendation of GPB Automotive. | $545K sought in damages |
April 2021 | Unsuitable investment recommendations, failure to supervise and breach of fiduciary duty. The claim period goes back to 2015. | $195K sought in damages |
May 2021 | Failure to supervise, elder abuse and alternative investment fraud. | Unspecified claim |
Ten or more claims pertain to losses arising out of investments in GPB private placement. Dixson worked for Madison Avenue Securities between 2007 and 2009. He has also worked with Pacific West Securities, InterSecurities Inc., United Securities Alliance, and WMA Securities at other times as a registered representative during the 19 years he has worked in the industry.
As is now known, GPB Capital Holdings stands accused of running a Ponzi scheme of over $1.8 billion. Through the scheme, more than 17,000 investors have been defrauded and are staring at losses. Madison Avenue Securities is one of the many broker-dealers that earned handsome commissions from the sale of these private placements. It is estimated that a total of $160M was earned as commissions by broker-dealers for the sale of GPB Capital Holdings.
Responsibility of broker-dealers
Brokers-dealers have to exercise judgment and be guided by the investing profile of the customer and her investment objectives before recommending investments. Alternative investments could be less liquid and carry risks that many investors are not in a position to manage. Brokers should offer these investments only to accredited investors. Unfortunately, the lure of outsized commissions drove many firms and brokers to sell private placements in GPB to many inexperienced, conservative, elderly investors.
Investor options
Several investor fraud claims related to investments in GPB Capital Holdings are being pursued by the securities fraud lawyers at Haselkorn & Thibaut, P.A. (InvestmentFruadLawyers.com) The brokerage firms as well as their registered representatives that enriched themselves from this fraudulent investment are being proceeded against in several cases across the country.
If you have had dealings with Madison Securities or Jeffrey Dixson, or believe that you may be the victim of a securities fraud, we encourage you to contact Contact Haselkorn & Thibaut, P.A. at 1-800-856-3352 and understand your options.