The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of former securities broker Erryn Barkett. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Erryn Barkett has been the subject of multiple customer disputes.
Erryn Barkett was a Virginia based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for seventeen years. During his career, he was registered with four different securities firms. He is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.
His Registrations
- AXA Advisors (2000-2007)
- NFP Securities (2007-2008)
- Next Financial Group (2008-2013)
- LPL Financial (2013-2017)
The Allegations
- In February 2014, a customer alleged that Erryn Barkett sold her fraudulent securities. This case was settled for $170,000 in damages.
- In November 2015, Erryn Barkett was officially sanctioned by the Virginia State Corporation Commission. The findings in this matter state that he recommended highly unsuitable securities and omitted material information about said securities. This matter was settled with Erryn Barkett being forced to pay $15,000 in restitution.
- In January 2017, customers alleged that Erryn Barkett recommended to them that they invest in various fraudulent companies. He allegedly sold them $60,000 worth of unregistered securities to them. The customers also alleged that Erryn Barkett recommended almost $650,000 in illiquid and poor performing alternative investments and annuities. This case was settled for $85,000 in damages.
What Does This Mean?
Securities brokers have an obligation to their customers to only recommend investments that they (the customers) are actually financially suited for. Securities sold on public exchanges have a guaranteed redemption. This means that the investor can sell their shares of the security for the stated market value at a moments notice. Because of this, these assets are still very liquid to investors. However, there are other types of investments that don’t trade on public exchanges and are in turn highly illiquid.
Privately traded alternative investments are securities that do not trade on public exchanges. They are highly speculative and are accompanied by incredibly high fees that drastically drain investor principals. They are also highly illiquid due to their private nature. Since they do not trade on public exchanges, they lack that guaranteed redemption. Investors looking to withdraw early from alternative investments often have a very difficult time doing so. Often times, these private investment funds will only offer early buy outs on quarterly basis, if at all, with a finite amount of buy outs offered. In addition to this, investors are very rarely offered the amount they are told their shares are currently valued at. This makes these products incredibly illiquid and highly unsuitable for investors who believe they may need to liquidate assets at a moments notice should the need to do so arise.
Another illiquid type of investment is an insurance product known as an annuity. An annuity is an investment vehicle that individuals use to receive an income during their retirement. Essentially, the investor spends a specific amount of time paying premium installments during the annuity’s surrender period. After the individual retires, they then begin receiving distributions dependent upon how much they paid into the annuity for a fixed annuity, or how well their invested premiums performed in the equities market for a variable annuity. However, if an investor withdraws from their annuity during its surrender period, they are charged outrageous penalties that can be as high as 25 percent of the principal. Because of this, annuities are highly unsuitable and unnecessary for investors with higher liquidity needs.
Oakes & Fosher Can Help
Many investors are unaware of the legal recourse available to them after losing money due to securities broker fraud and/or negligence. The truth is that investors who have lost money in this fashion may actually be entitled to damages.
Oakes & Fosher dedicates its entire legal practice to helping investors across the nation. If you, or someone you know, have lost money investing with Erryn Barkett, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation. Oakes & Fosher handles cases on a contingency basis, which means there are no fees charged unless we collect for you.
