瑞银Ordered To Pay More Than $18 million in Puerto Rico Closed-End Bond Fraud Arbitration Award

金融行业监管机构（FINRA）仲裁小组表示，瑞银金融服务（UBS）必须向客户拉斐尔·维兹卡朗多（Rafael Vizcarrondo）和梅赛德斯·伊姆伯特·德·耶稣（Mercedes Imbert de Jesus）支付1,860万美元，因为他们因投资波多黎各封闭式债券债券基金而损失了。两位投资者，两者都是瑞银客户，指责经纪人违反合同，违反信托义务和其他违反证券的行为。bob200体育他们声称瑞银将钱投入了不合适的投资中，并且没有适当监督与他们合作的经纪人。作为该奖项的一部分，Impord de Jesus和Vizcarrondo将获得1,270万美元的补偿性赔偿，250万美元的利息，320万美元的律师费和163,000美元的专家证人费。

Vizcarrondo是波多黎各的杰出律师。他的法律团队说，瑞银试图将他描绘成“老练”的投资者，当他在该领土的债券上投资时，应该知道他参与其中的人。该公司将Vizcarrondo决定集中在瑞银（UBS）的波多黎各封闭式基金中时，他已被“充分了解”。但是，正如Vizcarrondo的律师指出的那样，并非所有专业人士都是“老练的投资者”。根据其决定，FINRA仲裁小组显然同意索赔人的意见。

This is the largest FINRA arbitration award issued over Puerto Rico bond funds to date. There are over a thousand cases still pending. These claims were brought by investors seeking to recover the financial losses they suffered from investing in the island’s beleaguered securities. Although a number of firms, including Banco Santander (SAN), Banco Popular, Merrill Lynch and others have been named in Puerto Rico bond and closed-end bond fraud claims, UBS and affiliate UBS Financial Services Inc. of Puerto Rico (UBS-PR) have been the largest target of these claims. In fact, the TheStreet.com reports that on November 2, UBS AG, the parent company of UBS and UBS-PR, notified the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a filing that about $1.9 billion in Puerto Rico municipal bond funds and closed-end fund claims have been brought against it. The firm has already paid out $740 million to claimants.

At Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, our Puerto Rico securities fraud attorneys have spent the last three years working with investors in trying to recoup their losses. We represent clients in the US and in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico Bond Fraud Cases Against UBS
Many investors who worked with UBS brokers have said that not only did the firm’s financial representatives encourage to them to invest in Puerto Rico’s municipal bonds, but also these brokers recommended that they borrow funds so they could invest more. The investors also claim that the UBS financial representatives did not apprise them of the risks they were taking on. This is why so many investors were caught off guard when they sustained catastrophic losses after the bonds fell so far in 2013. Puerto Rico has been struggling to cope with its $70 billion of debt since then.

If you are an investor who has sustained losses from investing in Puerto Rico bonds, please contact our securities law firm today. We work with retail investors, high net worth individual investors, and institutional clients on the island and the mainland. Your initial consultation with one of our experienced municipal bond fraud lawyers is a free, no obligation, session.

瑞银to Pay $18.6M Total to Puerto Rican Couple Over Closed-End Funds，ThinkAdvisor，2016年12月6日

Read the FINRA Arbitration Award in the UBS/Puerto Rico Closed-End Bond Fraud Case（PDF）