A broker strongly recommending participation in a placement in a...

A broker strongly recommending participation in a placement in a stock like STI is super dodgy. It's bad enough it was small cap, let alone the reputation it had developed for ongoing capital raisings.

If your story is accurate, it is almost a foregone conclusion that your broker was getting some kind of kickback, and I urge you to investigate this further. Ask for evidence of why it was such a strong recommendation, as it's inconceivable on the information publicly available, that a broker could in good faith recommend this as a strong buy. Negligent at best, fraudulent at worst. I don't know what the regulations are on broker recommendations, but this really sounds fishy.