North Oaks, Minnesota Advisor, Randy Birkinbine, Subject of Pending Customer Complaint
According to publicly available information, dually registered stockbroker and investment adviser, Randy Lee Birkinbine (Birkinbine, CRD# 2008599), has been named or otherwise involved in a customer complaint concerning allegations of “unsuitable investments and concentration in illiquid investments.” Mr. Birkinbine is a longtime securities industry professional with three decades of experience as a financial advisor. He first entered the industry in 1990, and since 2011, has been affiliated with Davenport, Iowa-headquartered Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc. (Ausdal) as a stockbroker. Since 2016, Birkinbine has also worked as a SEC-registered investment adviser on behalf of Ausdal.
As disclosed through FINRA BrokerCheck, Mr. Birkinbine has been named or otherwise involved in a total of four (4) customer complaints over the course of his career. Two matters resulted in settlements in an aggregate amount of $60,847. With regard to the pending matter alleging unsuitability and concentration in illiquid investments, the customer is seeking damages of $109,000.
Unfortunately, in some instances, investors are improperly steered into investing in private, unregistered securities offerings. At times, investors are induced into making investments in private securities—sometimes referred to as private placements—with the promise of substantial returns and/or hefty income, as well as supposed lower volatility than publicly traded investments. However, investing in private placements carries with it considerable risk and complexity, including characteristic high commissions, general lack of transparency surrounding the underlying investment, and illiquidity.
Investors in private placements usually only receive limited information about the underlying company or business operations; often, investors will only receive a Private Placement Memorandum (PPM), or other limited offering documents, and perhaps unaudited financials. Because of their risk and complexity, private placements are typically only available to accredited and/or sophisticated investors. An investor is considered accredited if he or she has an annual income of $200,000 or has a net worth of $1,000,000 (exclusive of one’s primary residence). It is a financial advisor’s responsibility to ensure that his or her client meets this test.
Under prevailing securities rules, as set forth by the SEC and FINRA, brokerage and registered investment adviser (RIA) firms like Ausdal are obligated to conduct due diligence on any investment before it is recommended, in order to understand the investment and its risk components, as well as to ascertain any red flags. By extension, and as part of this due diligence requirement, a brokerage firm and its affiliated financial advisor must make reasonable efforts to gather and analyze information about the investment product, including the issuer, its management, financial condition, and the intended use of proceeds for the unregistered securities offering. In instances where a brokerage firm and/or financial advisor fail to conduct adequate due diligence, then they may be held liable for losses suffered by investors.
The attorneys at Giarrusso Law Group LLC have significant experience in working closely with investors to resolve all manner of issues concerning investment losses, including losses suffered in connection with private placement investment offerings. Investors may pursue a claim to recover monies through securities arbitration before FINRA, or in some instances, through litigation. Investors who wish to discuss a possible claim are invited to contact us by telephone at (201) 771-1115 or by email at info@gialawgroup.com for a no-cost, confidential consultation.