More Bad News for TNP Strategic Retail Trust Investors

According to reports, noted real estate investor Tony Thompson is having trouble with several real estate programs he started in 2008.

These reports state that Thompson has been struggling since last summer to make payments on various note programs, which he sold through independent broker-dealers in 2008 and 2009 to raise at least $31.6 million in capital to launch Thompson National Properties LLC. In December, one of Mr. Thompson’s note programs, the TNP 2008 LLC, missed a payment. And in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 15, his nontraded REIT, the TNP Strategic Retail Trust, said it was actively negotiating forbearance agreements with respect to two loans on six real estate properties in an effort to stave off foreclosure.

Mr. Thompson, chief executive of Thompson National Properties, launched his firm in 2008. Earlier, he founded Triple Net Properties LLC, which packaged real estate investments known as tenant-in-common exchanges, which were sold through independent broker-dealers during the real estate bubble of the last decade. A related company, NNN Realty Advisors Inc., in 2007 merged with Grubb & Ellis Co. Burdened by debt, that once-iconic commercial real estate company filed for bankruptcy protection last February and subsequently sold its remaining assets for $30 million. Since 2008, Thompson National Properties has launched 17 investment programs, the largest being the nontraded REIT, the TNP Strategic Retail Trust. The REIT has bought grocery and necessity-anchored retail shopping centers valued at $300 million.

In a setback for investors, however, the REIT is also moving its distributions to quarterly payments, from monthly, due to short-term liquidity problems and has suspended share redemptions except in case of death or disability, according to today’s SEC filing. It is also actively negotiating with a new potential adviser, Glenborough LLC. The REIT faces a payment of $1.28 million by Jan. 18, according to an SEC filing. In a letter to investors this month, Mr. Thompson said the TNP 2008 Participating Notes Program intends to make a payment Jan. 21.

The White Law Group continues to investigate the liability that brokerage firms and financial professionals may have in recommending the TNP real estate investments.

Brokerage firms and financial professionals have a fiduciary duty to perform adequate due diligence on any investment they recommend.  Based on what is now know about the TNP Strategic Retail Trust and TNP 2008 Participating Notes Program, it does not appear that the firms that sold these investments did perform adequate due diligence.

If you invested in a Thompson National Properties investment and would like to discuss your litigation options, please call the securities attorneys at The White Law Group at 312-238-9650 for a free consultation.

The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, and investor protection law from with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.

For more information on The White Law Group, visit https://whitesecuritieslaw.com.