Massachusetts regulators are forcing five independent brokerages to return approximately $10.7 million to investors who were sold non-exchange traded real estate investment trusts in violation of state law.

Law 360 has more:

As Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin alleged, the firms’ noncompliance had left some investors trapped in underperforming funds with no liquidity event in sight allowing them to escape.
Galbin said Wednesday that an investigation “showed widespread problems with adherence to the firms’ own policies,” and state law, according to the Wall Street Journal.