Alexis Lertora of Miami Florida a stockbroker formerly employed by CP Capital Securities has been barred from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon consenting to findings that Lertora (1) made omissions and misrepresentations to customers (2) made unsuitable investment recommendations and (3) lacked an adequate basis to make investment recommendations (4) and utilized misleading advertising mechanisms. Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent No. 2016051493703 (June 12, 2018).
According to the AWC, between January of 2016 to June of 2016, Lertora effected sales of CP Venture Capital II LLC – an unregistered offering that had been issued by a CP Capital Securities affiliate. Evidently, two customers made a collective $245,000.00 investment in the unregistered offering. Moreover, Lertora executed sales of three promissory notes that CP Capital Securities’ holding company issued where $73,000.00 was accumulated from investors.
Lertora reportedly omitted facts and made misrepresentations to customers relating to the notes and CP Venture Capital II LLC. Lertora indicated to customers that their capital would be preserved and that the price of the offering would not vary, but those representations were false. Particularly, CP Venture Capital II LLC was an unregistered security offered by an inexperienced LLC. The AWC stated that CP Venture Capital II LLC was actually illiquid and very speculative, unlike the representations made by Lertora. Critically, the AWC revealed that CP Venture Capital II LLC was a fraudulent self-offering which did not possess capital to provide customers’ with the return of their capital. The AWC stated that customers had not even held their positions for a year before CP Venture Capital II LLC stopped making interest payments to them.
Moreover, Lertora reportedly informed the promissory notes customers that their funds would somehow enable CP Capital Securities Inc. to procure a business deal and that the customers would be provided their principal back if the deal did not get executed. The AWC stated that Lertora also told customers that their money would be doubled in three months if a deal was put together by CP Capital Securities Inc. FINRA found that Lertora’s representations were false. Evidently, the promissory notes neither guaranteed that customers would be provided a return of their principal nor guaranteed that investors’ money would double inside of a three month period. Additionally, those funds were reportedly utilized in a fraudulent fashion; they were used to pay the expenses of the firm rather than used for a CP Capital Securities Inc. deal. Evidently, no deal was executed – and customers did not receive a return of the principal invested. FINRA found that Lertora’s conduct was violative of FINRA Rules 2010.
The AWC further stated that no adequate due diligence was conducted by Lertora, so Lertora failed to have any adequate basis for concluding that the notes and offering would be appropriate for customers of any type. FINRA found that the notes and offering had not been suitable for the customers who made purchases considering the customers’ objectives for investing and investment profiles. FINRA found Lertora’s activities in that regard to be violative of FINRA Rules 2111 and 2010.
Moreover, Lertora apparently disseminated materials to customers for purposes of marketing the offering but those materials misrepresented facts to customers and omitted information concerning the risks of the investments. Consequently, the information failed to create an adequate basis by which the investment could be evaluated by customers. The AWC stated that customers made decisions following the receipt of materials. FINRA found that Lertora’s dissemination of misleading, unbalanced and unfair marketing materials violated FINRA Rules 2010 and 2210.
Lertora’s registration with CP Capital Securities has been terminated as of April 5, 2017. CP Capital Securities was expelled from FINRA membership on July 31, 2017.
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