HOUSTON, March 26, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the law firm of Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP (www.sseklaw.com) investigates claims for clients of Deutsche Bank Alex Brown who were invested in the Aravali Fund, tales of the stock market crash of 1929 and images of victims jumping from windows of Wall Street buildings come to mind. An eerie sign of the similarities to the current 21st Century crash may be the recent suicide of a despondent broker at Deutsche Bank Alex Brown Securities (NYSE:DB), who left a note telling his clients to contact a lawyer to seek recovery of losses. The note stated in part:
"I was told by my firm (Deutsche Bank) and Aravali that this strategy was conservative....I relied on my firm's due dilligence and the assertions of Aravali that this was a conservative, income producing strategy."
A law suit, with the broker's suicide letter attached, was soon filed. According to the suit, clients of a broker in the Houston, Texas, office of Deutsche Bank, were lured into moving more than $13 million in funds from FDIC insured and other high quality investments into what they were told was a "virtually risk-free" fund. The suit also names "Arthur Kreidel" as a representative in Deutsche Bank's Houston office alleging that he assisted Smith to persuade the clients to invest as limited partners in the Aravali Fund, with Aravali Partners LLC as the fund's general partner.
The petition states that the clients were told they had a rare opportunity to invest in the Aravali Fund, which was previously available to institutions only. Brokers and others met privately with clients, including at expensive New York restaurants, explaining that the Aravali Fund had decades of success dealing in high quality municipal bonds. The fund, reportedly investigated and recommended by Deutsche Bank and its representatives, was described as "virtually risk free." The once "safe" fund is now worthless.
If you were an investor in the Aravali Fund, the law firm of Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas would like to hear from you. Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP has a team of attorneys, consultants and staff with more than 100 years of combined experience in the securities industry and in securities law. Since 1990, we have represented thousands of investors nationwide to recover losses. We have represented clients in Federal and state courts and in arbitration through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the New York Stock Exchange Inc. (NYSE), the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and in private arbitration actions.