Former UBS AG Co-General Counsel David Aufhauser Agrees to Settle Insider Trading Charges for $6.5 Million

The New York Attorney General’s Office says it has reached a $6.5 million settlement agreement with former UBS AG co-general counsel David Aufhauser over insider trading charges. Aufhauser is also a former general counsel for the Treasury Department.

In the complaint, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo accused Aufhauser of selling his personal auction-rate securities holdings because of inside information he received regarding UBS’s crumbling auction-rate securities market.

Among other allegations included in the complaint, which the New York Attorney General filed in New York State Supreme Court on July 24, 2008:

• A UBS executive received an e-mail on December 14, 2007 from the company’s chief risk officer discussing potential problems with ARS.
• This same UBS executive then sent an email to his financial advisor saying that he wanted to get out of the ARS market.
• AT this executive’s request, the financial advisor sold $250,000 of ARS.
• Cuomo’s complaint identifies Aufhauser as the executive and accuses him of violating New York’s Section 352-c of the General Business Law when he allegedly used insider information to commit securities fraud.
• The complaint also alleges that Aufhauser was in breach of a duty owed to the source of the insider information.

As part of his $6.5 million settlement with New York State, Aufhauser’s payments will include his $6 million UBS discretionary incentive compensation and another half a million dollars. The former UBS attorney is also barred from the industry for two years and cannot practice law or serve as an officer or a director of any public company in the state off New York for two years.

The New York Attorney General’s complaint against Aufhauser is part of Cuomo’s ongoing probe into the ARS market collapse.

Related Web Resources:
Ex-UBS Counsel to Pay $6.5 Million to Settle Auction-Rate Trading Case, NY Times, October 8, 2008
Ex-UBS general counsel settles insider trading case, Newsday, October 8, 2008

If you are the victim of investor fraud, our stockbroker fraud lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP would like to talk to you.