According to a public release, FINRA has fined Wells Investment Securities, who is “the dealer-manager and wholesaler for the public offering of Wells Timberland REIT,” “$300,000 for using misleading marketing materials in the sale of Wells Timberland REIT, Inc., a non-traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).” Wells Investment Securities has not admitted or denied FINRA’s findings.

If you have invested in the Wells Timberland REIT or another risky non-traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), The White Law Group may be able to help you recover your investment through FINRA arbitration. The White Law Group has assisted many investors who have struggled with nontraded REIT investments and is dedicated to representing investors through the FINRA dispute resolution process. Our firm has found that brokers and brokerage firms have often failed to adequately disclose nontraded investments as illiquid and improperly represented the investments as safe and secure. Brokers that fail in their responsibilities to customers may be have liability for claims to recover investment losses.

FINRA’s recent investigation and decision to fine Wells Investment Securities involved their review, approval and distribution of marketing materials related to the offering of the Wells Timberland REIT. According to FINRA, “from May 2007 through September 2009, Wells reviewed, approved and distributed 116 advertising and sales materials containing misleading, unwarranted or exaggerated statements.”

One of the issues FINRA found with the materials was that, “The majority of the advertisements and sales literature failed to disclose the significance of Wells Timberland’s non-REIT status or suggested that Wells Timberland was a REIT at a time when in fact it had not qualified as a REIT” and that the tax benefits generally associated with REITs would not be available to investors until the Wells Timberland investment qualified as a REIT. Perhaps even more pertinent to investors was that FINRA found some statements regarding the investments diversification, distributions and redemptions to be misleading.

If you investment in the Wells Timberland REIT or another Wells REIT product through Wells Investment Securities directly or another FINRA registered broker-dealer and would like to speak to a securities attorney about your potential to recover investment losses through FINRA arbitration please contact our Chicago office at 312-238-9650.

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

For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://whitesecuritieslaw.com.