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Recovering Investment Losses in Desert Capital REIT and CM Securities Inc.

Posted by: Robert Rex
April 25, 2011
Topic: Desert Capital

The securities arbitration division of Dickenson, Murphy, Rex and Sloan PA is investigating the potential for recovery of losses in Desert Capital REIT and CM Securities investments.

The Desert Capital REIT is a  non-traded Real Estate investment trust launched in 2004 designed to finance short term, high interest rate mortgage loans secured by real estate and pay dividends back to investors. These "hard-money" loans are among the riskiest real estate ventures out there, but could earn as much as 13.4% interest. When the real estate market was booming, these returns may have tempted brokers to market the REIT as a safe, dividend paying investment without disclosing its extremely risky nature.

Some investors were blindsided when the market imploded and the REIT began to see its market value decimated. Desert Capital lost $21 million in 2007, $11 million in 2009, and another $26 million in the third quarter of 2010 alone; the company has issued a press release announcing it has "doubt as to [its] ability to continue" and may have to be liquidated.  Shares in the REIT are not traded on any exchange, leaving investors with non-dividend paying, illiquid investments that are essentially worthless.

Additionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a subpoena to Desert Capital "pertaining to payments and transactions with [its] related party, CM Capital." CM Capital and CM Securities are brokers that marketed the REIT and were operated by the same CEO as Desert Capital, Todd Parriott. The SEC has not released additional details on the subpoena or any related investigations, but we are following  the case with great interest.

If you have investments in Desert Capital, CM Securities or CM Capital, we may be able to help you recover your losses; contact us at 561-391-1900.