MIAMI, Sept. 21, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The securities law firm Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. (http://www.dkrpa.com or http://www.investmentfraud-lawyer.com) has filed a new FINRA arbitration claim against UBS Financial Services, Inc. on behalf of an investor who lost $1 million in a Lehman Brothers structured product. The claim alleges that UBS represented the security as conservative and safe, whereas the Lehman Brothers note actually was very risky.
One of the more disturbing aspects of UBS's conduct is that at or about the time that UBS was recommending that its retail investors buy and hold Lehman Brothers securities, UBS was advising institutional customers to sell Lehman securities and even to buy credit default swaps on Lehman, which served as a bet that Lehman would default on its debt. In short, UBS appears to have given conflicting advice to its retail customers and to its larger institutional clients.
New Hampshire securities regulators, the SEC, and FINRA have brought claims against UBS for unfair sales practices in marketing and selling Lehman structured products. The regulators accuse UBS of exaggerating the safety of Lehman notes, failing to train brokers adequately, and failing to provide investors with fair and balanced disclosures of Lehman's credit risk. To date, regulators have levied millions of dollars of fines on UBS for its misconduct. Finally, the federal judge presiding over a class action pending against UBS recently ruled that the risk disclosures in the offering documents for Lehman "principal protection" notes were inadequate as a matter of law. The judge rejected UBS's argument that the risk disclosures sufficiently warned investors of the risks of the securities.
Since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, many investors have filed FINRA arbitration claims against UBS to recover their Lehman note losses. All but one of the cases that have gone to a final hearing have resulted in significant recoveries for the investors. The one case that resulted in no recovery involved an investor who unwisely tried their case without a lawyer.
The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy trustee has predicted that investors are likely to recover only about 20¢ on the dollar from the bankruptcy, leaving investors with the loss of 80% of their principal. That said, a payment from the Lehman bankruptcy estate does not prohibit investors from pursuing a FINRA arbitration claim to recover their losses from the brokerage firm that recommended and sold the Lehman notes.
In light of the repeated findings that UBS misled investors, it is time for Lehman note investors to take action. Investors only have a limited amount of time to file a claim. If that time expires, investors who fail to file a timely claim could be prohibited from pursuing a claim for their losses.
If UBS recommended and sold you a Lehman Brothers structured product, including a "principal protection," "step-up callable," "return optimization," "partial protection," or "absolute return barrier" notes, you should contact a lawyer who represents investors in FINRA arbitration cases to discuss filing a FINRA arbitration claim against UBS. As part of that process, you would have to opt out of the class action that is pending against UBS. Doing so would allow you to proceed with your case immediately and not wait for the often lengthy class action process. Moreover, investors often recover a far greater percentage of their losses through an individual FINRA arbitration than through a class action.
Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. is an AV-Rated law firm that represents investors throughout the United States and Latin America in stockbroker fraud and investment loss cases. The firm represents a number of UBS customers who lost money in Lehman Brothers principal protection notes and other Lehman Brothers securities. If you lost money in Lehman Brothers securities, please contact Jeffrey Kaplan, Esq. of Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. at (888) 578-6255 or jkaplan@dkrpa.com for a free case evaluation. You also may visit the firm on the web at www.dkrpa.com or www.investmentfraud-lawyer.com.
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