Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas LLP Files Claim Against The GMS Group, LLC And Advisor Paul Mante Over Puerto Rico Bond Sales

BOCA RATON, Fla., Jan. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lawyers with the Securities Law Firm of SHEPHERD, SMITH, EDWARDS & KANTAS LLP, www.sseklaw.com, have recently filed a claim on behalf of clients of The GMS Group, LLC ("GMS") and its financial advisor Paul Mante ("Mante") alleging that their accounts were over-concentrated in Puerto Rico bonds. GMS markets itself as a municipal bond expert firm by saying that "municipal bonds are our specialty and core product" and that it "offers unparalleled market experience and second to none tax-free bond expertise."  Mante, who works in GMS's Boca Raton office, has around half a dozen prior complaints according to FINRA BrokerCheck.

According to the complaint, GMS and Mante concentrated their clients' accounts in low-rated Puerto Rico bonds, without any meaningful attempt to diversify the holdings.  Many of these purchases for the claimants were made in 2014 and beyond, well after the problems with Puerto Rico and its debt were well-known among professionals.  When Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy in May 2017, these clients' accounts were decimated, and likely will never recover much of their value.

Even worse, it appears GMS may have been selling these Puerto Rico bonds to its customers out of its own inventory, trying to push GMS's risk and bad decision onto its customers.  Public records show that GMS held a sizable and concentrated position in Puerto Rico Bonds.  That would mean that the bonds being sold to GMS investors were most likely sold from GMS's own concentrated position.  In such a situation, GMS would be taking the risk of its own bad decision to load up on Puerto Rico and passing that risk and the accompanying losses to its customers, many of whom were unaware of the extreme risks of Puerto Rico debt.

Often, when a firm or a financial advisor engage in wholly inappropriate trading with one of their clients, there are many other clients who were mistreated, misled, or otherwise hurt without even realizing it.  If you are or were a client of the GMS Group, LLC and its advisor Paul Mante (or any other advisor working with GMS) and believe you may have been inappropriately invested or otherwise lost money with them, contact the law firm of Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas LLP for a free, no obligation evaluation of your account to determine if you might have a claim to attempt to recover some or all of your losses.  All communications will be kept strictly confidential, and you will not be billed in any way for a consultation. 

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. For more than two decades, our firm has represented thousands of investors nationwide to recover losses.

Contact Info: 800-259-9010

Sam Edwards [email protected]

Ryan Cook [email protected]

SOURCE Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP

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