Municipal Bonds

FINRA Panel Orders UBS to Pay $204K in Puerto Rico Bond Fraud Claim

Published on: March 22, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Panel has ruled that UBS must pay claimant Antonio Gnocchi Franco $204,000 in compensatory damages and $66,000 in costs for his Puerto Rico bond fraud case. Franco, a Puerto Rico resident who was also the trustee of his law firm’s pension plan, accused the brokerage firm of negligence, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, unauthorized trading, unsuitability, overconcentration, failure to supervise, unauthorized use of loan facilities, and unjust enrichment. According to the complaint, UBS had recommended that Franco invest in UBS bond funds and Puerto Rico bonds.

This customer win is yet another in a long line of customer wins against UBS for its investment and brokerage services provided in Puerto Rico. To date, FINRA arbitrators have ordered UBS to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to investors and UBS has paid many hundreds of millions more in settlements. Recently, UBS Puerto Rico and UBS Financial Services lost another Puerto Rico bond fraud case and were ordered to pay five former customers $521,000 in compensatory damages.

In total, UBS has been named in FINRA arbitration claims brought by thousands of investors that lost money from investing in UBS-packaged bond funds and Puerto Rico bonds. UBS Puerto Rico brokers, especially, have come under fire for allegedly recommending customers concentrate their investments in UBS Puerto Rico products, even when they were not suitable for customers in almost any amount. Moreover, many of these investors have alleged that UBS encouraged them to borrow against their own accounts so that customers could invest more. For example, the firm’s financial representatives are accused of advising clients to leverage their accounts and use them as collateral, sometimes for the purposes of purchasing even more UBS investments. This is a practice that should have never happened.

UBS Must Pay Five Clients $521,000 Over Puerto Rico Bond Fraud

Published on: February 24, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel has awarded five people $521,000 in compensatory damages in their Puerto Rico bond fraud case against UBS Financial Services (UBS) and UBS Financial Services Inc. of Puerto Rico (UBS-PR). The claimants had accused the financial firm of securities fraud, constructive fraud, common law fraud, negligent supervision, breach of fiduciary duty, and violating the Puerto Rico Uniform Securities Act.

UBS has been the subject of hundreds of FINRA arbitration claims brought by thousands of investors who sustained losses from Puerto Rico bonds and closed-end bonds, with many UBS-PR customers contending that they sustained massive losses because these investments were inappropriately recommended to them. To date, the financial firm has been ordered to pay or agreed to pay in settlements hundreds of millions of dollars to investors, with more claims still pending.

For over four years, our Puerto Rico bond fraud law firm has worked with investors on the island and the U.S. to help those investors recover their losses from losses in Puerto Rico securities. Contact Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas today to request your free, no obligation consultation.

Malachi Financial Products is Accused of Defrauding The City of Rolling Fork, Mississippi

Published on: January 8, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In its complaint, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has submitted a civil junctive action accusing Malachi Financial Products, Inc. and its principal Porter B. Bingham, of municipal bank fraud targeting Rolling Fork, Mississippi. According to the regulator, Malachi and Bingham charged the city too much for municipal advisory services involving a muni bond offering from October 2015.

Rolling Fork had hired Malachi in the capacity of municipal adviser in 2015 because of a proposed bond offering to pay for a number of improvement projects in the city. The SEC contends that after the closing of the offering, the firm and its principal submitted two invoices to the bond trustee, one—for $33,000—was for services that were never rendered and had never been authorized by the Mississippi city. The other, for $22K, was in line with what Malachi and Rolling Fork had agreed upon.

Bingham purportedly did not disclose to Rolling Fork that he had received $2,500 from Anthony Stovall, who worked for Bonwick Capital Partners. LLC, prior to Malachi recommending to the city that it retain Stovall’s firm as an underwriter for the bond offering. Rolling Fork went on to hire the underwriting firm because of the recommendation.

UBS Did Not Fully Disclose the Risks Involved in Puerto Rico Bond Funds to Investors and Brokers, Reports CNBC

Published on: December 22, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to a recent CNBC investigation, not only did UBS Puerto Rico (UBS-PR) fail to disclose to investors the risks involved in the bond funds UBS pushed on the island’s residents, but also the brokerage firm neglected to fully apprise its own brokers of the incredible risks. While these findings are not new, the CNBC probe digs deeper into the matter.

The majority of these investors were island locals, who have now also been further devastated as a result of Hurricane Maria. Already, UBS has come under fire and paid hundreds of millions of dollars in securities settlements and awards from FINRA arbitration panels over losses investors sustained when these investments failed dramatically more than four years ago. UBS also has settled with regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA, and paid over $60 million for its wrongful conduct and abuse of investors. The firm did not, however, deny or admit to wrongdoing.

UBS Executives Purportedly Knew Puerto Rico Bonds Would Fail
CNBC’s investigative team obtained approximately “2,000 pages of confidential documents” that display conversations and the “inner workings” between UBS executives in Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland prior to the funds’ collapse. According to the documents, as far back as a year before the Puerto Rico funds failed, UBS management already knew that problems were brewing and they discussed what could happen if the firm did not deal with these issues immediately.

Ex-Illinois Mayor Accused in $5.2M Municipal Bond Fraud

Published on: November 30, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

David Webb, the ex-Illinois mayor of the city of Markham, has agreed to partially resolve fraud charges brought by the SEC accusing him of involvement in a $5.5M municipal bond scam. The regulator accused Webb of taking part in a pay-to-play scheme that involved a $75K bribe from a construction contractor. In return, Webb is accused of directing one of the city’s construction projects to the contractor. The alleged fraud involved a $5.5 muni bond offering that the city offered in 2012.

According to the Commission’s complaint, at a Markham council meeting that year, talks took place to authorize the $5.5M of general obligation bonds to help pay for certain city projects. It was during this conversation that an attendee spoke out saying she’d heard that the owner of a roller rink stood to “improperly benefit.” The owner of the rink was Markham’s city attorney at the time and the roller ring was one of the city projects involved. Webb, however, responded by saying “I don’t make deals” even though he purportedly had recently been paid the bribe to the construction contractor. The regulator claims that the pay-to-play scam involving the city’s Roesner Park development project was already in place.

The bond offering was approved.

Hedge Funds Get Rid of Puerto Rico General Obligation Bonds After Hurricane Maria

Published on: November 22, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Reuters reports that Senator Investment Group, Monarch Alternative Capital, and Stone Lion LP—all hedge funds—have gotten rid of hundreds of millions of dollars of Puerto Rico general obligation bonds in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria. Similarly, another hedge fund, Varde Partners, no longer has $136M of its COFINA debt. Investors have been hoping that the island’s bonds would rebound after the territory filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Now, however, recovery for Puerto Rico is expected to take longer after the storm. Debt prices have dropped to drastic lows, while Maria has caused tens of billions of dollars in damages.

Meantime, in the U.S. mainland and on the island, investors continue to fight to recoup their losses sustained when Puerto Rico’s bonds and closed-end bond funds plunged in value more than four years ago. Our securities fraud lawyers have been working with investors to get their funds back. Many investors were not properly apprised of the risks involved in investing in these bonds. Quite a number of them should never have invested in these securities at all.

Still, brokers from Banco Popular, UBS Puerto Rico, Santander Securities, and other brokerage firms continued to tout these investments as low risk and profitable. Some financial representatives even encouraged investors to borrow funds so that they could invest more, resulting in further devastating consequences.

After Hurricane Maria, Mutual Fund Company Franklin Resources Sells Hundreds of Millions of Dollars of Puerto Rico Bonds

Published on: October 27, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to The Wall Street Journal, Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN), has sold hundreds of millions of dollars of Puerto Rico bonds in the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Maria. This includes Franklin Mutual Advisers LLC’s decision to sell its $294 million stake in the U.S. territory’s general obligation bonds.

Franklin, also known as Franklin Templeton, is the second largest holder of Puerto Rico bonds among mutual funds. OppenheimerFunds (OPY) is the largest.

The Wall Street Journal said that Franklin is not the only one trying to get rid of its Puerto Rico bonds. According to sources, a “swath of mutual funds and hedge funds” have finally given up on the island’s securities, too. For example, Merced Capital and Varde Funds sold their $172 million in Puerto Rico municipal bonds to other bondholders.

Oppenheimer Funds and Other Mainland Funds Take Financial Hit in the Wake Up of Hurricanes

Published on: October 14, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The financial fallout caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria is being felt not just on the island of Puerto Rico, but in the U.S. mainland as well. Puerto Rico bonds, which were already in trouble prior to the storms because of the island’s faltering economy and bankruptcy, are expected to take even more of a hit. Moody’s Investors Service assesses the future of the bonds, which were already at a Caa3 rating, as negative. The ratings agency said that the “disruption of commerce” caused by hurricanes will drain Puerto Rico’s “already weak economy” further. All of this is expected to impact not just the Puerto Rico bonds but also the mutual funds based on the U.S. mainland that hold them, which means that investors will be impacted.

According to InvestmentNews, Morningstar stated that 15 municipal bond funds, “14 of them from Oppenheimer Funds (OPY),” have at least 10 % of their portfolios in the island’s bonds. The 15th fund is from Mainstay. Morningstar reported that through September 28, the funds lost a 1.57% average for the month. The Oppenheimer Rochester Maryland Municipal Bond (ORMDX), which has 26% of its portfolio in Puerto Rico bonds, was considered the worst performer. In addition to Oppenheimer and Mainstay, other U.S.-based funds that are losing money from Puerto Rico bonds, include, as reported by The New York Times:

· Paulson & Co., which has invested billions of dollars in Puerto Rico securities. The Wall Street firm is run by hedge fund manager John A. Paulson.

Puerto Rico Bond Fraud Cases Name Former Morgan Stanley Broker Angel Aquino-Velez

Published on: October 2, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to InvestmentNews, there are six pending FINRA arbitration claims against Morgan Stanley (MS) and its former broker Angel Aquino-Velez (Aquino-Velez) concerning his selling Puerto Rico investments. The claimants are alleging misrepresentation and unsuitability regarding the sale of Puerto Rico closed-end funds and bonds they purchased through Aquino-Velez, who is based in Miami, and the brokerage firm.

InvestmentNews also reports that according to FINRA’s BrokerCheck database, Morgan Stanley has already resolved four FINRA arbitration claims valued at $2.4 million related to Aquino-Velez and Puerto Rico municipal bond investments. Aquino-Velez, who left Morgan Stanley a few months ago, was recently selling Puerto Rico COFINA bonds, which are securities backed by the U.S. territory’s sales tax revenue. Prior to working at Morgan Stanley, Aquino-Velez was with UBS Financial Services (UBS) and Merrill Lynch (BAC).

Puerto Rico Bond Fraud Losses
At Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP, our Puerto Rico bond fraud lawyers have been working hard these past four years to help investors who sustained serious losses when the island’s municipal bonds began to fall in value in 2013. For many of our clients, their portfolios should not have been so heavily concentrated in Puerto Rico bond funds and bonds, if at all, except that they were given bad investment advice. Many investors lost everything.
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After Hurricane Maria and Loss of Power in Puerto Rico, PREPA Bondholders Could Lose Investments For Good

Published on: September 16, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

MarketWatch reports that with the power out for what could be months in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, this could mean that investors holding $9 billion of Puerto Rico Electrical Authority (PREPA) bonds may end up never seeing the money they invested in the US territory’s electrical authority. Meantime, Puerto Rico’s residents must now also grapple with recovering from the physical devastation caused by the heavy rains, winds and flooding from Hurricane Maria.

The power outage comes just three months after PREPA filed for bankruptcy protection and the financial oversight board appointed to deal with the territory’s $74 billion of debt turned down a restructuring deal between the electrical authority and a group of insurers and bondholders. For many Puerto Rico investors, Hurricane Maria comes just four years after they sustained major losses from investing in Puerto Rico bonds and closed-end bond funds—securities that brokerage firms such as Santander Securities (SAN), Banco Popular, UBS Puerto Rico (UBS-PR), Oriental Financial Services and others touted as low risk, safe investments, even to customers who did not have the portfolio to handle the actual, higher risks involved.

Currently, there are thousands of Puerto Rico bond fraud and closed-end bond fraud cases awaiting arbitration hearings before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Our Puerto Rico bond fraud attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas have been representing investors on the island and the US mainland in helping them try to recover these investment losses.