FINRA Investigating REIT “BOSS” Tony Thompson

Recently, FINRA stated that it is investigating REIT seller Tony Thompson and his broker dealer, TNP Securities LLC, for failing to turn over documents to FINRA. This all comes in the wake of Mr. Thompson already facing significant financial hurdles, most notably the default last year on $21.5 million of private notes that he sold in 2008 and 2009 to raise money for his venture, Thompson National Properties LLC.

In Mr. Thompson’s latest violations, by failing to turn over documents to FINRA, he allegedly violated industry rules that require firms and individuals to produce information. Mr. Thompson also allegedly violated rules requiring high standards of commercial conduct and fair principles of trade in the past. His broker dealer, TNP Securities, is also under investigation for the same alleged violations.

This current investigation is focused on their failure “to produce a privilege log for approximately 316,000 attorney-client privilege e-mails.”

A privilege log is a list of the privileged e-mails sent between an attorney and client. If the attorney-client privilege is asserted, the attorney has to create a log that adequately describes the nature of the documents.

In an e-mail to InvestmentNews when asked what FINRA was looking for, Mr. Thompson wrote: “Don’t know.”