Silver Law Group Represents Northstar Financial Services Bermuda Investors

If you’re one of the many investors who lost money with the now-insolvent Northstar Financial Services Bermuda, Silver Law Group is now representing investors who are seeking restitution.

Despite the firm’s bankruptcy, investors have options for recovering some or all their lost funds.

Originally named Nationwide Financial Services (Bermuda), the company was founded in 1990 in Bermuda. It offered tax-friendly insurance and annuity investment vehicles to investors in Latin America and Asia (but not to US- or Bermuda-based investors.) The company’s Bermuda location made them tax-friendly and popular with conservative investors interested in lowering their tax burden.

Later renamed Northstar Financial Services Bermuda, the company was bought by another company called Global Growth in 2018. Formerly known as Eli Global LLC, it was owned by North Carolina billionaire businessman Greg Lindberg. Global Growth had subsidiaries in multiple industries. But in 2019, there were questions about the liquidity of Global Growth’s insurers, and that funds were being diverted to some of Lindberg’s other entities. Lindberg was convicted in 2020 and sent to prison.

Investors became nervous when they learned about the allegations of Lindberg’s financial activities and began liquidating their Northstar assets, creating a “run” on the company. By this time Northstar did not have the ability to repay all of their investors and creditors, and it was forced to declare bankruptcy.

The Supreme Court of Bermuda issued a “Winding Up Order” on March 26, 2021 after the company could not present a workable plan for restructuring. The Joint Provisional Liquidators (JPLs) filed a 454-page petition in the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York on January 3, 2023. The petition named defendants:

• Greg Lindberg
• Christopher Hewig
• Christa Miller
• Devin Solo
• Eric D. Bostic

Along with multiple companies as defendants across ten pages.

Before Greg Lindberg allegedly began bankrupting the company, US-based brokers and investment advisors, along with their firms, continued to promote Northstar as a safe, solid investment with a guarantee on their principal. This appealed to many investors—who were not in the US—to protect their assets and preserve them for their families. In fact, Northstar was a risky offshore investment with considerable weaknesses.

Many representatives received high commissions and other incentives for selling Northstar even when questions came to light about Lindberg’s activities. Disclosures made about Lindberg’s ties to the company, or a 2011 assessment by Moody’s gave Bermuda a negative outlook for investors were, at best, limited. They also failed to disclose that the company failed to produce several required documents in 2018 and 2019, including financial statements and compliance records.

Brokers and their broker-dealers are required to perform due diligence on anything they decide to offer to and recommend for their customers under the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, regulations. Part of their fiduciary duty is to make suitable recommendations to their clients.

When a broker or firm makes wholly unsuitable recommendations, or over-concentrates a client’s assets in unsuitable securities, they breach that duty of care. The customer may be entitled to recover those losses through a FINRA arbitration procedure.

The first thought many people have is to sue the company that issued the shares. In this case, that would be Northstar Financial Services Bermuda. But since the company is bankrupt and in liquidation, there aren’t enough assets to go around. You could sue your broker and brokerage, but there’s a catch.

Most brokerages have an arbitration clause in their brokerage agreements. When you signed the contract, you also agreed to arbitration instead of a lawsuit. Furthermore, you’ll wait a long time to get to trial and it can be expensive.

Securities arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution that takes a claim out of the court system and into a faster, easier, and less expensive way to resolve your case. Going to court can take months, and sometimes years. A jury trial can be unpredictable, and you don’t know who you’ll have as a judge. The case is in the public domain, with rare exception.

Taking your case to arbitration takes less time, is less complicated than a trial, and could cost less in legal fees. An arbitration session can be scheduled within a few months, and both parties choose a neutral, third-party arbitrators. The case is kept private, and agreements can be made completely confidential to avoid any information being made publicly available. While an arbitrator’s decision is generally final, there may be some leeway for appeals.

FINRA operates the largest securities arbitration service in the US. Arbitration is not the same as filing a customer dispute, and can help you recover damages suffered from a broker and/or broker-dealer.

We’re experienced with FINRA arbitration and are happy to advise you if you’ve lost money with Northstar Financial Services Bermuda.

Silver Law Group represents investors in securities and investment fraud cases. Our lawyers are admitted to practice in New York and Florida and represent investors nationwide to help recover investment losses due to stockbroker misconduct. If you have any questions about how your account has been handled, call to speak with an experienced securities attorney. Most cases are handled on a contingent fee basis, meaning that you won’t owe us until we recover your money for you. Contact us today at (800) 975-4345 and let us know how we can help.