misrepresentation

Top 15 Types of Securities Leading to Customer Disputes in 2020

Published on: December 27, 2020 | by Iorio Altamirano

When an investor suffers harm, including investment losses, due to misconduct by a financial advisor or broker-dealer, the investor can file a securities arbitration claim against their financial advisor and/or broker-dealer in an effort to be compensated. The case will be presented and defended in an arbitration proceeding to a panel of arbitrators instead of a court of law in front of a judge and jury.

Arbitration is the primary forum for resolving disputes between investors and brokerage firms or financial advisors because the parties have contractually agreed to use arbitration as an alternative dispute resolution process. When an investor opens an account with a broker-dealer, the investor is required to sign an array of account opening documents. These account opening documents regularly include an arbitration clause, which requires that arbitration be used as an alternative to litigation. This requirement is often a contractually binding obligation for both parties. As a result, disputes between investors and financial advisors or brokerage firms are resolved in arbitration as an alternative to court.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is authorized by Congress to regulate the financial services industry and operates the largest arbitration forum for securities disputes. Most securities arbitrations take place using FINRA’s Dispute Resolution Services’ arbitration forum because, as FINRA members, financial advisors and brokerage firms are required to arbitrate customer complaints upon the filing of a claim through FINRA.

UBS Ordered to Pay $90,000 to Yield Enhancement Strategy Customer

Published on: December 23, 2020 | by Iorio Altamirano

On December 22, 2020, a FINRA Dispute Resolution Services arbitration panel in Boca Raton, Florida, ordered UBS Financial Services, Inc. to pay a customer $89,675 in compensatory damages. After considering the pleadings, the testimony and evidence presented at the hearing, the arbitration panel concluded that the UBS Yield Enhancement Strategy (“YES”) was not suitable for the investor, Gerald S. Backman, a retired partner at corporate law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges.

Many UBS customers, including wealthy and sophisticated investors, who invested in UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy have filed lawsuits against UBS in the form of FINRA arbitrations to recover financial losses. The customers have claimed that the strategy was not suitable for them and that UBS materially misrepresented and omitted the product’s risks.

Investors who have suffered investment losses due to UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy should contact experienced securities arbitration attorneys at Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential case evaluation. Partner August Iorio, who has been investigating YES for nearly two years, can be reached at august@ia-law.com or toll-free at (855) 430-4010.

Former LPL Financial LLC Financial Advisor, Michael Anthony Tavel, Suspended by FINRA for Selling Away, Making an Unsuitable Recommendation, and Misrepresentation – Indianapolis, IN

Published on: December 18, 2020 | by Iorio Altamirano

FINRA has suspended financial advisor Michael Anthony Tavel (CRD #4862463) from the securities industry for 18 months and fined him $20,000. Michael Tavel was a stockbroker at LPL Financial LLC, in Indianapolis, Indiana, from September 2004 until April 2019. He has also been affiliated with Charter Advisory Corporation and Tavel Insurance & Financial Services, LLC.

If you have lost money with Michael Tavel, contact New York securities arbitration lawyers Iorio Altamirano LLP for a free and confidential evaluation of your account.

Michael Tavel and FINRA entered into a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”) on December 17, 2020, over allegations related to Mr. Tavel recommending private securities transactions to three investors. One of the transactions involved a senior customer. Mr. Tavel did not have a reasonable basis to believe that the recommendation that the senior invest in the private security was suitable. Mr. Tavel also provided misleading materials to the customers and, after the customer orally complained, improperly attempted to settle the complaint away from the firm.

INVESTIGATION: Long Island Resident Mark Alan Lisser Charged with Defrauding Investors

Published on: December 1, 2020 | by Iorio Altamirano

**Update: 5/13/2021** On May 12, 2021, Long Island investment advisor, Mark Lisser, pleaded guilty in federal court to securities fraud conspiracy. As part of his plea, Mr. Lisser admitted to lying to customers about investments in shares of several companies prior to the initial public offering of those companies. As a result of his scheme, Mr. Lisser stole more than $700,000 of investors’ funds to make payments to companies controlled by Knightsbridge Private Partners LLC employees, pay salaries and sales commissions, pay his personal credit card bill, and make payments on a mortgage.

Original Post:

INVESTIGATION: Long Island Resident Mark Alan Lisser Charged with Defrauding Investors

UBS Profits Double as Investors in UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy Suffer Losses

Published on: October 20, 2020 | by Iorio Altamirano

Today, UBS Group AG announced that its net profit almost doubled in the third quarter to nearly $2.1 billion from $1.05 billion from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, as UBS and other large investment banking firms continue to rake in huge profits, UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy investors continue to suffer avoidable losses.

UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy, or YES, is a complex managed options strategy that UBS marketed as a safe, market-neutral overlay that would provide incremental returns to an investor’s portfolio.