Success of FINRA Arbitration Claims against UBS regarding Puerto Rico Bond Funds

To date, FINRA Arbitration Panels have issued five awards relating to claims filed by investors against UBS and UBS of Puerto Rico regarding their Puerto Rico Closed End Bond Funds (CEFs).

The Awards (for cases filed after the 2013 crash of the CEF market) are summarized below:

1. Bauza v. UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico, et al.. Greco & Greco represented the Claimant in this case which resulted in the first award against UBS regarding the Puerto Rico CEFs. UBS claimed that the Claimant only had $8,000 in net losses from the funds, but the panel awarded $200,000.00. The case was tried in Washington, DC.

2. Rosado v. UBS Fin. Serv. of Puerto Rico, et al. Claimant sought $1,033,596 in damages. The arbitration panel issued a written opinion (not common in FINRA arbitrations) making the following findings: a. “In the process of reducing its exposure in the CEFs by some 75%, UBS undertook an internal push for its brokers to sell its inventory to customers;” b. “this account was extremely over-concentrated and clearly unsuitable for Claimant;” and c. “proper and required supervision could have prevented Claimant’s losses or at least limited them greatly.”

The panel Ordered UBS to rescind the sales of the CEFs by repurchasing Claimant’s account for $1,000,000.

3. Ramis v. UBS Fin. Serv. of Puerto Rico, et al. The Claimants in this case requested 2 – 2.5 million dollars in compensatory damages. The panel awarded $250,000 against UBS.

4. Rodriguez Gonzalez v. UBS Fin. Serv. of Puerto Rico, et al. Claimants requested damages at the end of the hearing of 3 to 6 million dollars. The panel awarded $2,545,000.00.

5. Lopez Del Valle v. UBS Fin. Serv. of Puerto Rico et al. This case involved a large number of Claimants, however, all but three Claimants settled their claims prior to the final hearing. The orignal Statement of Claim requested ten million dollars in damages, but the award is not clear how much of those damages were requested by the three remaining Claimants. The arbitration panel awarded $2,395,402.00 in compensatory damages, interest from the filing of the Statement of Claim, $50,000 in costs, $5,000 in expert witness fees, and significantly, $479,079.80 in attorneys fees.

In summary, all of the arbitration panels that have heard these cases have issued awards in favor of Claimants, with one also awarding attorneys fees. If you would like to speak to an attorney about possible claims related to UBS of Puerto Rico bond funds, please read more about these claims at Greco & Greco’s website (http://www.securities-lawyers.net/ubs_puerto_rico.html) and contact Scott Greco for a free consultation (Contact Us).