The Meissner firm is currently investigating potential claims by investors relating to TD Ameritrade and the alleged fraud which has been perpetrated by the broker-dealer with regards to its Reserve Yield Plus Fund. On June 17, 2010 the Pennsylvania Securities Commission’s enforcement division filed a civil complaint alleging that TD Ameritrade and Amerivest Investment Management LLC, both of which are subsidiaries of TD Ameritrade Holding Co., intentionally misled investors, in telephone conversation which have been recorded, by characterizing the Reserve Yield Plus Fund as a Money-Market Fund as well as a conservative-type investment that offered immediate liquidity for clients who needed quick access to their cash. In fact the Fund was a diversified mutual fund, or “enhanced cash fund,” that made high-risk investments in short-term debt as opposed to the conservative nature of a money market investment, leaving investors more open to risk without disclosing such to them. Further, even after senior management at TD Ameritrade determined in or around November 2007 that the Fund’s net asset value might fall below the $1-a-share level that money-market funds make the utmost efforts to maintain, also known as “breaking the buck,” they continued to promote the Fund to clients. According to the Complaint, TD Ameritrade “committed dishonest or unethical business practices” through its actions, which included a “fail[ure] to supervise its agents” when it promoted the Reserve Yield Plus Fund to some investors who they feared would leave the firm for higher returns elsewhere. Recently, investors of the Fund became aware that their accounts in the fund had been frozen. According to TD Ameritrade, the net asset value of the fund was $0.97 per share as of 5 p.m. on Sept. 16, 2008. On Oct. 9, 2008, it was announced that the assets of the Reserve Yield Plus Fund would be liquidated “as soon as possible” but that it is not in “shareholders’ interests to sell those assets at their current market values.” If you were a victim of such impropriety and have sustained substantial losses by investing in the TD Ameritrade Reserve Yield Plus Fund, you may be entitled to recover damages as a result of a failure to adequately disclose the extent of risk they were exposed to in addition to misrepresentation which were made regarding such Fund. Please contact the Meissner firm, which is nationally known for its record win statistics in FINRA Arbitration, for a free consultation. |