Real Estate Investment Trusts or REITs are companies, which own and manage income-producing property (e.g.hotels, hospitals, & office buildings) or are involved in real estate financing. REITs are either publically traded, non-exchange traded, or privately traded. REITs provide investors with real estate exposure, but unlike other real estate investments, REITs are often entirely illiquid. REIT companies must distribute at least 90% of taxable income; however, in instances where income does not meet distribution demand, REITs often resort to paying distributions out of borrowed money...

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When your stockbroker sells you a security, whether it be a bond or a stock, you are typically charged a "commission" which is fully disclosed and appears on your confirmation. So for example, you may wish to purchase 200 shares of Apple Computer (AAPL) or an exchange traded stock, and your broker, or brokerage firm acting as "agent" goes to a market-maker in the case of Apple or to a "specialist" in the case of an exchange traded security, and purchases these securities for your account.

Many of the nation’s discount broker will execute a m...

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The Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association PIABA issued a statement finding FINRA's proposed new rule which would allow for stockbrokers, who are not named as parties in customers' arbitration complaints, but whose conduct is the subject of investors' complaints, to seek removal of the investor's complaint from the stockbroker's regulatory record.

PIABA is a voluntary bar association of Attorneys who represent investors in claims aga...

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Peter C. Bishop, formerly with the Portland Maine offices of Ameriprise Financial and RBC Capital Markets, accepted a one month suspension and fine of $10,000 imposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for effecting unauthorized transactions in the securities accounts of his customers.

According to the FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver & Consent, from January 4, 2011 through September 6, 2011, Bishop placed four "solicited" transactions in the customer account of one of...

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The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Stephen A. Colangelo, Jr. a purported investment adviser in New York with defrauding investors who he convinced to invest in his start-up businesses while in reality he was spending their money on illegal drugs and gambling.

According to the SEC Complaint, From 2009 through 2011, Colangelo solicited and obtained over $4 million from investors by making material misrepresentations and omissions concerning Colangelo's prior trading activity and historical rates of return, Colangelo's criminal history and educational ba...

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