UBS Financial Services

Former UBS Broker Robert Turner in Waco, Texas May Have Stolen Over $17M From Customers

Published on: May 24, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-UBS Financial Services Broker Robert Turner Investigated For Stealing Clients’ Money

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) is looking into claims of losses involving former UBS Financial Services broker Robert Earl Turner. Although no longer a registered broker or investment advisor, Turner worked in the industry for 31 years. He spent 25 years at UBS until October 2021. He is accused of stealing money from customers in a scam that allegedly lasted for over two decades.

In late 2021, Turner and his wife joined Stifel, Nicolaus, & Co. She is still with that firm, although Robert left after just several months in early 2022. While at UBS Financial Services, they reportedly oversaw $900M in customer assets and made about $3M in yearly revenue.

UBS Financial Services To Pay YES Investors Almost $1.2M

Published on: April 15, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

YES Claimants’ FINRA Arbitration Case Alleged Misrepresentations and Negligence

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has awarded two investors $1.2M (plus 6% interest from June 28, 2019, through March 7, 2022) over losses they sustained in the UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy (UBS YES). This options overlay strategy, also known as the iron condor strategy, is exclusive to UBS.

The claimants contend that UBS YES was misrepresented and not in line with their investment goals and risk tolerance level. They accused the broker-dealer of fraud, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, unsuitability, and other violations.

Former UBS Broker German Nino Allegedly Stole $5.8M From Client

Published on: January 31, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-UBS Financial Services Advisor Faces SEC and Criminal Charges

German Nino, a former UBS Financial Services (UBS) broker and investment advisor, is accused of stealing $5.8M from a customer. Nino, who left the broker-dealer in 2020, is now facing related civil charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and parallel criminal charges.

Our Florida broker misconduct lawyers are looking into claims of significant investment losses by other ex-customers of the financial advisor, German Nino. Contact us at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas today so that we can help you determine whether you have grounds for a FINRA arbitration claim to file for damages.

UBS Financial Services Settles SEC Charges Over Exchange-Traded Products Compliance Lapses for $8M

Published on: July 26, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Customers Were Allegedly Unsuitably Sold Complex Exchange-Traded Products

UBS Financial Services (UBS) has agreed to a censure and will pay an $8M fine in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) civil case accusing the brokerage firm of failing to properly supervise its brokers.

UBS financial advisors sold complex exchange-traded products (ETPs) without fully comprehending all of the risks involved. The SEC has also ordered the firm to pay disgorgement plus interest of almost $113K.

UBS Ordered To Pay $371K Award to YES Strategy Customers

Published on: April 20, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

FINRA Panel’s Ruling is UBS Financial’s Third Loss Involving Yield Enhancement Strategy

In a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration ruling, UBS Financial Services (UBS) must pay an Ohio couple $371K for financial losses they sustained from the brokerage firm’s Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES).

This is the third UBS Yes Strategy arbitration claim that the broker-dealer has lost, including one award for $1M to two Denver investors this year. The first award against UBS over its Yield Enhancement Strategy, for $90K, was granted to an investor in December.

Investor Alert! Beware of Losses from the UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy

Published on: April 1, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Investors in supposed “Yield Enhancement” strategies are learning that the purported safe investment program has significant risk. The Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES) that UBS Financial Services, Inc. (UBS) and other brokerage firms used was marketed as a “safe and efficient” way to enhance the return on a conservative portfolio.

The YES program was represented as an investment program that involved using options strategies that produced small returns but with small risks. UBS is one of a number of brokerage firms that touted the YES approach to customers as a way to make money via the “strategic” buying and selling of SPX index options spreads. The returns were purportedly “incremental” to “underlying asset returns” while giving clients a chance to possibly make money from low yield assets.

Seeking Alpha reports that the brokerage firm told clients that their UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy involved allowing a “mandate” or margin to be placed against their respective portfolios and that this would then be used, via an “iron condor” options trading strategy, to generate returns. It was these particular investors that have sustained the greatest losses when excessive volatility in December—the most that the market has encountered in 30 years—caused the YES strategy to fall.

Investor Fraud: Former MML Investors Broker Who Sold $3.5M of Woodbridge Notes is Barred, Ex-Merrill Lynch Rep Gets 40-Month Prison Term for Defrauding Clients, and Barred UBS Broker is Sentenced in $3.7M Fraud

Published on: February 15, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-Merrill Lynch Broker Will Pay $5M Penalty and Serve Time In Prison

A federal judge has sentenced Thomas Buck, an ex-Merrill Lynch broker, to 40 months in prison. Buck pleaded guilty to securities fraud in 2017. As part of his plea, he admitted to lying to Merrill about telling clients about their account options, and, at certain times, making trades for them without getting their approval.

That year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had filed a complaint against Buck accusing him of making over $2.5M in excessive commissions and fees from more than four dozen clients. The SEC contends that Buck placed clients into accounts that charged them commissions instead of ones that were fee-based and not as costly. The regulator also accused him of making unauthorized trades. The Commission barred the former Merrill broker from the investment advisory and brokerage industries last year.

Financial Firm News: Goldman Sachs Faces Criminal Fraud Charges in Malaysia and UBS is Fined $15M Over Poor Anti-Money Laundering Detection Systems and Multibillion-Dollar Fraud Involving 1MDB Fund Leads to Criminal Charges for Goldman

Published on: December 20, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Prosecutors in Malaysia have filed criminal charges against a number of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) units and several people over a massive multibillion-dollar bond fraud involving the sovereign wealth fund the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The individuals charged including former Goldman managing directors Roger Ng Chong Hwa and Tim Leissner, financier Jho Low, who is accused of masterminding the fraud, and ex-1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan.

Malaysia Attorney General Tuan Tommy Thomas said that the criminal charges are related to fake and misleading statements issued in order to steal $2.7B from the proceeds of three 1MDB subsidiary issued-bonds. The bonds, which Goldman organized and underwrote, were valued at over $6B.

The defendants are accused of conspiring together to bribe public officials in Malaysia so as to allow for Goldman’s involvement with the bonds. The investment bank earned about $600M in fees for its work with the Malaysian sovereign fund.

Ex-UBS Puerto Rico Broker Jose “Whopper” Ramirez Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud

Published on: November 21, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Jose G. Ramirez-Arone Jr. (also known as Jose G. Ramirez, Jr.), a former UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico (UBS-PR) broker, has pleaded guilty to criminal charges accusing him of defrauding investors while making over $1 million in improper commissions through the sale of Puerto Rico closed-end funds. Ramirez-Arone is scheduled to be sentenced next year.

The former UBS broker, known to many on the island as “Whopper,” and UBS Puerto Rico have together been the subject of dozens of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration complaints brought by customers claiming they sustained massive investment losses because not only did UBS and Ramirez-Arone sell the customers Puerto Rico bonds while misrepresenting the risks, but also, the finer broker recommended that they borrow money to purchase even more of these securities when they could not afford them.

Ramirez-Arone was one of the top-selling brokers at UBS Puerto Rico. In his guilty plea, Ramirez-Arone admitted that he was involved in a scam to help his UBS customers fraudulently obtain non-purpose credit lines, which was a violation of the firm’s policy. The credit lines came from UBS Bank USA, which is a UBS Financial Services subsidiary based in Utah. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ramirez-Arone took advantage of the low interest rates at UBS bank to convince his customers to buy additional shares of UBS’s Puerto Rico closed-end funds (CEFs). The former UBS broker acknowledged being a part of a scheme that involved recommending to different clients that they take money from the UBS Bank credit lines to invest to in the UBS Puerto Rico closed-end bond funds. Since using a “non-purpose” loan to buy additional securities is not allowed, Ramirez-Arone admitted advising customers to misrepresent on their credit line application what they intended to use the credit line and having the clients take the borrowed money to their retail bank and then bring the money back to UBS to buy more securities.

Puerto Rico UBS Closed-End Mutual Fund Fraud Lawsuit Goes to Arbitration

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

UBS Financial Services, Inc. (UBS) and two investors will now arbitrate a Puerto Rico closed-end bond fraud lawsuit accusing the investment arm of the Swiss bank of improperly structuring investments. The plaintiffs, Augusto Schreiner and Nora Fernandez, contend that UBS, its Puerto Rican subsidiaries, firm executives, and Banco Popular de Puerto Rico failed to suitably examine nearly two dozen closed-end mutual funds that held the beleaguered island’s government bonds.

Schreiner and Fernandez were initially part of an attempt to file a class action lawsuit against UBS and its subsidiaries. However, last month, US District Court Judge Sidney H. Stein refused to grant the case class certification status.

The Court found that because all of the plaintiffs had different investment objectives, they would not be able to demonstrate that the mutual funds were unsuitable in general. Judge Stein ruled that it was up to each investor to prove individually, according to their respective needs, objectives, and ability to handle risk, that UBS had neglected to properly analyze the risks that came with the funds.