The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said it had ordered David Lerner Associates Inc to pay about $12 million in restitution to investors,many of them elderly,who had bought into a non-traded $2 billion real estate investment trust (REIT),and to customers who were charged excessive markups. Founder and Chief Executive David Lerner,who had described the REIT as a fabulous cash cow and gold mine in pitches to unsophisticated investors,was fined $250,000 and suspended from the securities industry for one year,followed by a two-year suspension from acting as a principal,the industry-funded watchdog said on Monday. FINRA also said it had fined the Syosett,New York-based firm more than $2.3 million for charging unfair prices on municipal bonds and collateralized mortgage obligations.
