The recent crisis in the American economy has not only threatened the financial security of millions of Americans, but also has contributed to the proliferation of widespread financial fraud. The Federal Trade Commission recently estimated that over 13% of U.S. consumers – more than 30 million people – are financially defrauded each year, losing a total of close to $3 billion. From “sweepstakes scams” and fake lotteries to massive Ponzi schemes, financial fraud continues to devastate the financial well-being of people from all walks of life, with particular challenges for our elderly population. Visit http://fraudresearchcenter.org for more information concerning this epidemic problem in our country.

The Frost Firm tirelessly advocates for our clients victimized by financial and securities fraud. We implement creative and exhaustive strategies to recover our financial and securities fraud clients’ funds from any and all potentially responsible parties and their insurers where insurance coverage may exist.

A small sample of the financial and securities fraud cases our attorneys have handled over the years include the following matters:

• Securities Fraud Attorney Representative Case #1: Representation of a group of 75 mostly Latino and elderly victims of a massive real estate Ponzi scheme based in Southern California. The perpetrators of the financial fraud were arrested, tried, and incarcerated, but our clients recovered very little if any of their misappropriated funds through the government’s victim restitution program. We developed a comprehensive and cost-effective litigation strategy to recover our clients’ funds from any and all potentially responsible parties, including the title companies and title insurers involved in the transactions at issue, as well as the individuals and entities who held title to valuable properties involved in the fraud. After years of heavy litigation, we settled multiple claims against multiple parties resulting in a substantial aggregate recovery for our clients.
• Securities Fraud Attorney Representative Case #2: Perhaps the most common financial and securities fraud cases we handle involve individuals who have lost substantial portions or all of their life savings to unqualified and unscrupulous brokers and investment advisers. The vast majority of these cases are subject to arbitration before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) or other arbitration forums. We successfully have tried many such cases and received numerous favorable awards for our clients.
• Securities Fraud Attorney Representative Case #3: Representation of two orphans who, when they reached adulthood, discovered their broker and trustee of their family’s trust, defrauded them out of their entire inheritance and life savings over a 20-year period. We obtained an award after trial of $1.8 million in favor of the clients and against the broker and his employer, the largest organization of independent financial advisers in the United States.
• Securities Fraud Attorney Representative Case #4: Representation of an individual investor defrauded in a private real estate investment program. The principal of the investment program generally preyed upon prospective investors in various church groups in which he was active. After conducting a comprehensive independent investigation, we discovered the principal of the investment program had previously been convicted of securities fraud and served time in prison decades earlier for financial crimes, a material disclosure he concealed from our client, among other misrepresentations made in connection with her investment. We filed the first investor suit against the individuals and entities involved in this particular investment program and by quickly and aggressively prosecuting the case we obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of our client before a wave of prospective investor suits and regulatory enforcement proceedings ensued.
• Securities Fraud Attorney Representative Case #5: Representation of a group of investors in a mortgage company who discovered the principal of the company misappropriated company assets. Immediately after filing a lawsuit against the principal and numerous other potentially responsible parties, we negotiated a settlement in which we recovered 100% of our clients’ investment principal.