UBS Tag Archives — Investor Lawyers Blog

UBS Financial Ordered to Pay Punitive Damages in $1.3M Arbitration Ruling Over YES Strategy

Published on: July 28, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Broker-Dealer Losses Yet Another Investor Claim Involving Its Yield Enhancement Strategy

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has awarded investors $1.34M, including punitive damages, for losses sustained in the UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy. This is the latest award related to UBS Financial’s complex options trading strategy that has cost investors over $1B.

In June 2022, UBS agreed to pay $25M to settle Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fraud charges accusing the firm with failure to provide its brokers with proper training and oversight in the YES program even as they sold this strategy to hundreds of investors. This purportedly caused many of the firm’s financial advisors to not fully comprehend the risks involved and affected their ability to determine whether the Yield Enhancement Strategy was, in fact, in the best interests of these customers.

UBS Must Pay Over $2.5M to Yield Enhancement Strategy Investors

Published on: July 13, 2022 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Two FINRA Arbitration Panels Order Firm To Pay UBS YES Customers for Their Losses

In separate UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy (UBS YES) investor cases, two Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panels have awarded UBS Financial Services customers $1.18M and $1.4M, respectively. These are the latest awards against the broker-dealer, whose high-net-worth investors have lost significant sums of money in the firm’s proprietary, complex options trading strategy.

Due to the most recent rulings, the broken dealer will have to pay UBS YES customers more than $7.6M in 2022. In May, two investors were awarded $3.9M. Various other UBS YES customers were awarded $1.2M in March, and In February 2022, a claimant and two of his family trusts were also awarded $1.875M.

UBS YES Strategy Customers Of Broker Jason Dworak Awarded Over $1M

Published on: March 10, 2021 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Lincoln, Nebraska Stockbroker Named In Multiple Six-Figure Options Overlay Claims

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has awarded two claimants over $1M in their UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES) claim against respondent UBS Financial Services (UBS).

Their broker, Jason Mathew Dworak, was not a respondent in the customer dispute. However, according to the FINRA award, the panel did not grant the broker-dealer’s request that the case be expunged from his CRD records. Dworak also is named in other pending options overlay claims involving UBS YES.

Ex-UBS Broker and IHT Wealth Management Investment Advisor Frederick Kort Accused Of Unsuitable Investment Recommendations Involving Options Overlay Strategy

Published on: September 15, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Pending Allegations Likely Involve UBS YES Strategy

Frederick Maximillian Kort, a former UBS Financial (UBS) broker, is facing allegations that he made misrepresentations when making unsuitable investment recommendations to customers.

According to his BrokerCheck record, there are two pending customer disputes against him, both involving an options overlay strategy. While the disclosure does not specifically state so, this is likely UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy, in which many of the firm’s registered representatives have come under fire for selling to investors.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Investigates Claims Involving Leveraged UBS ETRACS ETNs After COVID-19 Market Crash Causes Investor Losses

Published on: April 1, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

UBS To Offer Redemptions to ETRACS ETN Investors After Coronavirus-Spurred Crash

If you are an investor who was sold UBS ETRACS exchange-traded notes (ETNs), please contact our investor lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) today. ETRACS ETNs are complex and risky investments and they are not suitable for every investor.

UBS recently announced that it was offering mandatory redemptions for certain ETRACS ETNs while freezing trading of others after the market crashes spurred by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. UBS ETRACS ETN investors have lost a lot of money.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Investigates UBS YES Strategy Claims

Published on: March 5, 2020 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

UBS YES Strategy Losses May Be Grounds For A Claim

Our investment fraud lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) are continuing to offer free, no-obligation case consultations to investors that lost money in the UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES). SSEK Law Firm represents clients throughout the United States.

Investor fraud claims over UBS YES Strategy losses continue to grow. Among the allegations against UBS are that its brokers made unsuitable recommendations of this complex strategy and misrepresented its risks to many customers, causing at least $60M in losses, with some reports saying that this figure could be much higher.

Ex-UBS Puerto Rico Broker David Lugo Ordered to Appear in Federal Court

Published on: November 29, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

SSEK Investigating Investor Claims Against Ex-UBS Puerto Rico Broker

For the last several years, Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LLP (“SSEK Law Firm”) has been actively working with investors to recover the massive losses they sustained because brokers and their firms recommended that they invest in Puerto Rico bonds and closed-end bond funds.

SSEK Law Firm continues to investigate such claims, including those involving UBS and its brokers. David Jose Lugo (“Lugo”) is one of these former UBS registered representatives and SSEK Law Firm is very familiar with Lugo.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Wins $550K for Texas Widow Against UBS

Published on: September 18, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel (FINRA) has awarded one of our clients, a 91-year-old widow, $550K in her Texas broker-dealer fraud case against UBS Financial Services (UBS). The claimant, who is from Texas, contends in her Houston senior investor fraud case that because her UBS broker made unsuitable investments on her behalf, she lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in her retirement accounts.

While the FINRA arbitration award doesn’t name the broker, Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas lawyer David Miller identified him as former UBS broker William Andrew Hightower. Attorney Miller said that Hightower, who headed up Hightower Capital Group, recommended that the claimant invest in leveraged and inverse exchange traded products and structured products, as well as his own private investments. These investments were not suitable for her.

Hightower is now accused of operating a $10M Ponzi fraud. Among the unsuitable investments that he made on our client’s behalf were those involving private placements Reproductive Research Technologies and Isospec Technologies, which were part of his alleged scam, and one fake private annuity.

UBS Ordered to Pay $9.3M for Puerto Rico Bond Fraud

Published on: September 3, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Two different groups of investors were recently awarded nearly $9.3 million in their respective Puerto Rico bond fraud claims against UBS Financial Services (UBS). These are just the latest Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claims where the Swiss giant and its Puerto Rico-based brokerage firm have been ordered to pay customers after selling over $10 billion of closed-end funds that were heavily invested in the island’s municipal debt. To date, UBS has paid hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars to investors in either arbitration awards or settlements.

In one of these latest Puerto Rico investor fraud cases, the claimants are three investors and their related businesses and trusts. The customer claimants contend that UBS violated FINRA’s rules and the U.S. territory’s securities laws, as well as committed other fraudulent acts. Now, the FINRA arbitration panel has awarded them $4.25 million in compensatory damages, interest, and $170,000 for costs.

In the other Puerto Rico bond fraud claim, the claimants were customers alleging constructive fraud, common law fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation, negligent supervision, breach of contract, and fraudulent concealment. The FINRA arbitration panel awarded them $4.8 million in damages.

Ex-Cetera, UBS, and Spencer Edwards Brokers Barred

Published on: June 21, 2019 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Cetera Broker Allegedly Engaged in Outside Business Activities

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it is barring Nina Jessee, a former Cetera Advisors broker. The bar comes after Jessee failed to cooperate with the self-regulatory organization (SRO), which was investigating complaints about her related to alternative investments, including allegations that she had engaged in business activities that were not authorized outside of the brokerage firm.

With more than 30 years in the industry, Jessee has also been a registered broker at five other broker-dealers, including Investors Capital Corp., Financial Securities Network, NAP Financial Corporation, Marketing One Securities, and Mutual of Omaha Fund Management Company.