DALLAS, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lawyers with Shepherd, Smith, Edwards, & Kantas (“SSEK Law Firm”) recently filed another investor fraud lawsuit against First Miami Securities Bonds, Inc. (“FMS Bonds”) on behalf of an inexperienced bond investor who suffered approximately $1M in losses due to an overconcentration of his portfolio with low rated, long-term “junk” bonds along with other bad bonds, including those issued by Frontier Communications.
According to the claim, FMS Bonds broker Paul Antevey (“Antevey”) presented himself as a bond expert and touted his firm as a preferred bond broker-dealer with access to the best deals. He promised the Claimant that his money would be placed in a solid portfolio that would not be exposed to unnecessary risks. However, he placed way too many junk bonds into Claimant’s portfolio, many of them ranked BB or lower and considered high-yield or non-investment grade, resulting in nearly all of Claimant's liquid net worth to be tied up in long-term junk bonds. This inventory included Frontier Communications-issued bonds, of which FMS Bonds has been a big seller as well as those issued by Cleveland-Cliffs and Transocean.
FMS Bonds, based in Florida, is a broker-dealer that has developed a reputation for marketing less “desirable" bonds to its clients. It has been the subject of numerous regulatory events, including customer disputes over municipal bonds. In 2017, FINRA fined the broker-dealer $217K for impacting about 170 customer transactions involving municipal securities without making certain disclosures. FMS Bonds has also been the subject of Puerto Rico bond fraud claims involving unsuitable sales made by its brokers and is the subject of multiple investor complaints over losses related to Frontier Communications bonds. Frontier Communications, a telecommunications company, filed for bankruptcy protection last month leaving many investors and other creditors in the lurch.
If you are or were a client of Paul Antevey, FMS Bonds, or any other brokerage firm that marketed Frontier Communications bonds and suffered significant losses, contact SSEK Law Firm for a free, no obligation evaluation of your account. For more than two decades, our firm has represented thousands of investors nationwide to recover losses.
Contact Info: 800-259-9010
Kirk Smith: ksmith@sseklaw.com
Sam Edwards: sedwards@sseklaw.com