Haselkorn & Thibaut, a national investment fraud law firm is investigating potential sales practice violations by financial advisors who were recommending The Macerich Company (NYSE: MAC) and related real estate investment trust (REIT) investments to investors.
The recent trading in MAC has been in the $8.00/share range. Looking back MAC Stock REIT was trading in general over $32.00/share in the second half of 2018. In 2019 price range generally between $20.00 and $30.00. In early 2020, the price was in the $25.00 range.
The Macerich Company (NYSE: MAC) – is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT), which focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. Macerich has a significant presence on the West Coast, and in Arizona, Chicago and the Metro New York to Washington, DC corridor.
The recent trading in PK has been in the $7.00/share range. Looking back MAC stock was trading in general over $25.00 to $30.00/share range for most of 2017, 2018 and 2019. In early 2020, the price was in the $25.00 range.
The Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (Symbol PK) – is the second-largest publicly traded lodging REIT with a diverse portfolio of hotels and resorts. Park’s portfolio currently consists of 60 hotels and resorts with over 33,000 rooms primarily located in the city center and resort locations.
NOTICE TO INVESTORS IN MAC
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The Haselkorn & Thibaut, P.A. law firm is a nationwide investment fraud law firm (www.investmentfraudlawyers.com) investigating potential sales practice violations by financial advisors who were recommending MAC and similar REIT related securities sold to investors.
For investors, this is a particularly tough blow as these are the types of investments that were often recommended by financial advisors to clients who were looking for income in their portfolios (often retirees or similarly conservative investors). This was likely a recommendation that was expected to be low volatility and fairly conservative, now investors are faced with substantial losses as a result of a level of risk to their original investment principal that was probably never properly disclosed (if it was ever disclosed at all) by their financial advisors.
As some strategies are leveraged in the hopes of increasing potential returns, they also increased the level of risk, and some investors may not have been advised of those potential risks as well. Although Financial advisors may claim that these were unforeseen market events, the reality is that these are similar risks to those experienced in the 2008-2009 financial crisis. These potential risks were material risks that should have been properly disclosed to clients before recommending these investments individually or as part of a portfolio or investment strategy.
Many of these investments were sold by financial advisors without proper risk disclosures, as these are considered very risky and complex (some even speculative because of the leverage) securities. In cases where these were recommended to retirees or similar conservative income-seeking investors there is the potential for sales practice abuse as a result of misrepresentations, but more often as a result of omissions of material fact, or due to a lack of proper supervision.
Investors Seeking to Recover MAC Losses
For some investors, a private FINRA arbitration customer dispute enables them to bring a claim and potentially recoup their Macerich investment losses. These customer disputes typically involve only paper discovery and no depositions, and they are generally faster and more efficient compared to traditional court litigation, as they provide a private forum to resolve disputes more quickly and efficiently.
