\t\t\t\tA Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel has ordered UBS Financial Services (UBS) to pay Ana Elisa Ciordia-Robles almost $1 million, including \u00a0$751,000 in compensatory damages and additional sums for legal fees and costs. Ciordia-Robles accused UBS of negligent supervision, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, negligence, breach of contract, and violations of the\u00a0Puerto Rico Uniform Securities Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission\u2019s Rule 10b-5, and the Securities Exchange Act\u2019s Sections 10(b). More specifically, Ciordia-Robles claimed she sustained losses from investing in UBS Puerto Rico (UBS-PR) closed-end bond funds.<\/p>\n
When Puerto Rico muni bonds dropped in value in 2013, many investors on the island and in the mainland sustained huge investment losses. In the last few years, UBS and UBS-PR \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 have been the subject of thousands of customer complaints over their sale of Puerto Rico municipal bond and proprietary bond funds. Claimants are alleging that these investments were unsuitable, that high concentrations of these investments were recommended, and that UBS never apprised them of the risks involved in the closed-end bond funds that they were sold. Many of these investors have since realized that their portfolios were never equipped to handle these risks.<\/p>\n
It was just last\u00a0 year that UBS consented to pay about $34 million to US regulators to settle allegations related to its supervision of the sale of the Puerto Rico bond funds and use of leverage against those closed-end funds. UBS has already settled a number civil claims brought by investors through FINRA arbitration. \u00a0At Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP our securities lawyers have been working hard to help quite a number of these investors \u00a0recoup these losses.<\/p>\n