Like a sledgehammer, the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) has paralyzed our country and created unrivaled fear for all Americans. Our heroes – the doctors, nurses and frontline medical personnel remain in the prayers of many.
In addition to the health and well-being of our family, friends and loved ones, investors, particularly retired and elderly investors living on a fixed income, are concerned about the money they have invested in the financial markets. In addition to their financial stress, the retired and elderly in our nation are reeling from being placed in one or more “high risk” groups making COVID-19 more threatening and potentially deadly.
Never before have we as a nation experienced a set of circumstances that are at once threatening both the physical health and well-being of our retired and elderly population while at the same time also threatening their financial security.
Just a month ago investors were celebrating at or near record account valuations. Since then three financial relief packages have been passed by Congress and the President, with ink still drying on the third. On Friday, March 27, 2020, President Trump signed a $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which may help the airline and other industries, small businesses and provide a small cash stipend to those earning below $75,000 annually.
According to the Wall Street Journal a fourth package may be in our future, but when and what costs? The answers to these questions cannot be credibly answered so long as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on our nation. Nevertheless, there is nothing in the three relief packages to date, or in the prospective fourth, addressing the losses that have been incurred by individual investors.
Assessment of Your Investment Portfolio
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As you review your account statements and assess the losses in your investment accounts, you may begin to look at your options and ask, whether you or a loved one (i.e. older parent or dependent), can recover investment losses associated with COVID-19 market crash? The answer is YES. While it depends on the specific facts and circumstances those investment losses may potentially be recoverable.
If your advisor’s conduct was negligent in providing suitable investment recommendations, investment strategies, choice of products, or otherwise improper, then you may be entitled to monetary compensation. Your advisor’s actions (or inactions) that give rise to that liability were likely the result of events that pre-dated the recent market events.
Are There Any Types of Securities That Have Lost More Than Others During this COVID-19 Crisis?
While all losses should be examined, the Haselkorn & Thibaut, P.A. continues to investigate losses, including but not limited to, those incurred in:
Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), structured products and exchange traded notes correlated to the Energy, Oil, Financial, Mortgage industries:
| Name & Symbol | Name & Symbol | Name & Symbol |
| iPath U.S. Treasury Long Bond Bear ETN (DLBS) | MFA Financial, Inc. (MFA) | Western Asset Mortgage Capital Cor. (WMC) |
| Matador Resources Co. (MTDR) | Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp. (MGY) | Talos Energy, Inc. (TALO) |
| Nine Energy Service, Inc. (NINE) | Apergy Corp. (APY) | Independent Contract Drilling, Inc. (ICD) |
| Tellurarian, Inc. (TELL) | Arch Coal, Inc. (ARCH) | Seadrill Partners, LLC (SDLPF) |
| Cadence Bancorporation (CADE) | Bank7 Corp (BSVN) | BOK Financial Corp. (BOKF) |
| Highpoint Resources Corp. (HPR) | SM Energy Company (SML) | QEP Resources, Inc. (QEP) |
| Callon Petroleum Co. (CPE) | Ovintiv, Inc. (OVV) | Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc. (XOG) |
| Centennial Resources Dev. Inc. (CDEM) | Penn Virginia Corp. (PVAC) | Occidental Pet. (OXY) |
| Gulfport Energy Corp. (GPOR) | Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) | Archrock, Inc. (AROC) |
| U.S. Silcia Holdings (SLCA) | Oneok, Inc. (OKE) | Apache Corp. (APA) |
| Clearbridge MLP and Midstream Fund, Inc. (CEM) | BP Midstream Partners, LP (BPMP) | EQM Midstream Ptnrs LP (EQW) |
| Credit Suisse X-Links Monthly Pay 2x Leveraged Alerian MLP Index (AMJL) | Shell Midstream Prtnrs LP (SHLX) | Hess Midstream LP (HESM) |
| Tortoise Midstream Energy Fund (NTG) | Kayne Anderson MLP Midstream Invt. Co. (KYN) | Genesis Energy (GEL) |
| Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) | Goldman Sachs MLP and Energy Ren. (GER) | Proshares Ultrapro 3x Crude Oil ETF (OILU) |
| Cohen & Steers MLP Income & Energy Opp. Fund, Inc. (MIE) | First Trust NASDAQ Oil & Gas (FTXN) | Nuveen Energy MLP Total Return Fund (JMF) |
| Nuveen All Cap Energy MLP Opp. Fund (JWLP) | Direxion Daily Nat. Gas Related Bull 3X Shares (GASL) | Kayne Anderson Midstream Energy Fund, Inc. (KMF) |
Steps to Recover Investment Losses
Try to gather your monthly account statements for last 5-10 years and be prepared to mail them or scan them to send electronically. Do not stress if you cannot get access to them. We can help you with that process.
Wait, I’m Concerned About a Loved One and I Don’t Have the Records
We can help and encounter this situation regularly. Many of our clients rely on their adult children, who reside in other states, for help with their financial affairs. If a loved one’s account is the subject of a potential claim, we will coordinate whoever has the authority to access the records. Sometimes that involves dealings with a legal guardian, a child or siblings that may have Power of Attorney over a parent, or that serve a sole or co-trustees of a Trust for the benefit of mom or dad. If the authorized person did not receive monthly account statements in the ordinary course of business, we can help facilitate obtain the requisite records from the financial institution where the account(s) is/are held in preparation for our no cost case evaluation.
What are you looking for?
- Misunderstood Investments: As lawyers, we are interested in determining whether there is there anything unclear, any positions or products that you don’t understand?
- Large losses: We would also want to know whether any investment product(s) or strategy recommended by your advisor jumps out as having large losses (before or after the recent market events).
- Concentration: Any large positions (sometimes referred to as concentration) in a particular position, product, asset class, industry, geography, etc.? Keep in mind, concentration issues can arise in many different ways. You may hold 10 different stocks and bonds, but you may discover that 8 of those positions is linked to the energy industry or impacted by the price volatility in a commodity such as oil. While the stocks and bonds may all have different names, that concentration may very well be a concentration issue.
- Communication: We would like to review correspondence between you and your advisor (i.e. documents, e-mails and texts). Keep in mind that text messaging has become very popular and many brokers and advisors are prohibited from texting you about your accounts, particularly communications regarding transactions or investment related, which is oftentimes helpful to you in a potential claim.
As always, if you are not sure you know what to look for, call us – we will review your accounts free of charge as a public service. We understand that you are under considerable stress. We are not trying to add to it, but rather help make an unfortunate situation better as best we can.
What are you looking for when you conduct the review?
Establish the Timeline: We will start by trying to get a sense of how the investment strategy was constructed from the beginning of your relationship.
Investment Strategy: We inquire and investigate whether the strategy (and the recommendations) was consistent with your investment goals and risk tolerance.
Suitability: Was is all “suitable” based on your age, investment experience, tax status, income needs, investment objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon and any other material information that you would have shared with your financial advisor. This is a very basic concept and is summed up as whether the advisor “knew his/her customer.”
Suitability Changes: Since inception of the account or the relationship with the advisor/firm, did your investment strategy change or should it have?
Material Changes In Your Life: Did you enter retirement, lose your income, suffer a medical condition or diagnosis, find yourself in a hospital or rehab facility for any length of time? Did your needs change? Need for income, need to avoid risk to principal? Need for liquidity?
How Haselkorn & Thibaut Helps Investors Recover Losses
We handle case on a contingency fee basis, meaning we do not get paid, unless can obtain a financial recovery for you. Therefore, in order to add value to your claim, we begin with a thorough review of your account statements and communications between you and your advisor (i.e. documents, e-mails, texts, etc.). We often receive these documents in the mail or they are sent to us electronically for review. Depending on the complexity of investments, the frequency of the trading activity and length of the relationship, we can usually review these materials in a matter of days and provide you instant feedback.
In addition, we investigate any red flags in the advisor’s or financial firm’s background. We also research any investment products that raise concerns, and compare the risk and volatility in your portfolio with a hypothetical well-managed portfolio in order to spot any material anomalies.
We then prepare a strategy and a game plan in order to help you maximize your recovery as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Seek Compensation for Your Investment Losses
If you are an investor that has experienced investment losses (realized or unrealized) or you have questions regarding your investment accounts (or those of a friend, family member, loved one or a client) you should consider your potential options for recovering the investment losses.
In many situations, the process to recover your investment losses involves a private customer dispute arbitration claim. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) administers a forum that serves as an alternative to state or federal court litigation. That FINRA claim process is private, faster, and more efficient than traditional court litigation. This process is private with no public court docket so your financial records remain confidential, and the claims typically involves only paper discovery (no depositions), meaning almost all of the work is being done by your experienced attorneys.
About Haselkorn & Thibaut, P.A.
During this COVID-19 crisis, Haselkorn and Thibaut, P.A. remains open for business. We are a nationwide law firm specializing in handling investment fraud and securities arbitration cases. The two founding partners have 45 years of legal experience. As former financial advisors and former financial services defense lawyers, we have represented many of the largest Wall Street banks and brokerage firms, and we know what to look for in these cases. Cases are typically handled on contingency fee basis, meaning no recovery, no fee, terms.
The experienced attorneys at Haselkorn & Thibaut, P.A. are available for a free consultation as a public service. Call today for more information at 561-585-0000 or visit our website and email us from there at investmentfraudlawyers.com. Main Office: Palm Beach, Florida. Additional offices available for appointments on Park Avenue in New York City, in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, and in Cary, North Carolina.
