Jorge Luis Alfonso, of Miami, Florida, a stockbroker formerly registered with Infinex Investments Inc., is identified in a customer initiated investment related FINRA securities arbitration claim where the customer sought between $50,000.00 and $100,000.00 in damages founded on accusations of breach of fiduciary duty as it pertained to Northstar Financial Services Bermuda products when Alfonso was employed by Infinex Investments. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Arbitration No. 21-02221 (September 10, 2021).
NorthStar Healthcare Income Inc. is a non-traded real estate investment trust or “REIT.” The Fund’s “investment strategy” was to purportedly acquire and manage a portfolio of healthcare investments in assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing, and independent living facilities. The Fund’s offering materials disclose that the company has no operating history, and that the offering was a “blind pool” offering, in that at the time of the offering the Fund had not identified any of the assets that it intended to acquire.
NorthStar Healthcare also discloses in its offering materials that the acquisition of real estate investments from “affiliates” may not be “conducted on an arm’s length basis,” and that in addition to a 1% Annual Asset Management Fee, the Fund will pay its affiliated advisor, an Asset Acquisition Fee of 4.25%, and an Asset Disposition Fee of 3% for every property bought or sold within the Fund.
At the time of sale, NorthStar Healthcare paid broker-dealers a 10% commission to sell these securities to their customers.
In February 2019, NorthStar Healthcare suspended all distributions to its shareholders, and in April 2020, suspended all repurchases or redemptions of the company’s securities. As of even date, these investment have lost more than 70% of their purchase price.
According to the claim, false and misleading representations were made by Alfonso when he was the customer’s financial advisor at Infinex Investments. The claim also alleges negligence and deceptive actions concerning the customer’s account.
FINRA Public Disclosure shows that Alfonso has been identified in two more customer initiated investment related disputes regarding allegations of his wrongdoing. Alfonso is the subject of a customer initiated investment related written complaint in which the customer requested more than $5,000.00 in compensatory damages based upon accusations of unauthorized trading by Alfonso while he was registered with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. The complaint alleges that Alfonso’s unauthorized stock transactions occurred in multiple accounts, including a non-discretionary brokerage account.
Alfonso is also referenced in a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim where the customer was awarded $2,554,896.00 in compensatory damages. The Statement of Claim alleges fraudulent concealment, negligent supervision, negligent management, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud. The customer sustained damages through short sales, day trading, and margin use, and through investments in Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. and Habitat Restaurants Inc.
Between July 5, 2016, and September 11, 2019, Alfonso was associated with Infinex Investments as both a stockbroker and investment adviser representative. Since September 10, 2019, Alfonso has been employed by Snowden Account Services LLC as a stockbroker and Snowden Capital Advisors LLC as an investment adviser representative.
