Following a lengthy legal battle with various state regulators over failed private placements issued by Medical Capital Holdings, broker/dealer Securities America has agreed to make whole 63 Massachusetts clients who bought $5 million worth of the investments.
According to Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, Securities America will pay $2.8 million to clients within 10 days.
The settlement, however, is contingent on several factors. As reported May 24 by Investment News, Securities America could be liable for up to another $2.2 million if a class action settlement currently being heard before a federal judge in Dallas falls through.
In addition, Securities America may have to pay more if the receiver for Medical Capital fails to pay 10% back to investors.
In the end, Massachusetts investors will recover 100% of the $5 million in principal they lost in Medical Capital. In July 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the company with fraud.
Dozens of independent broker/dealers – the largest of which was Securities America -sold private placements in Medical Capital. From 2003 to 2008, Securities America sold about $700 million of the notes to investors. About half was lost in the alleged fraud.
In 2010, the Massachusetts Securities Division charged Securities America with fraud and accused the company of failing to disclose to investors that the Medical Capital notes it was selling were high-risk investments.
Massachusetts regulators also charged Securities America of using sales tactics that ignored warnings of their own analysts. In addition, the regulator claimed that the broker/dealer touted the Med Cap notes to unsophisticated investors.