Squitieri & Fearon, LLP is investigating claims for investors who have lost money by investing through UBS in Puerto Rico municipal bonds or bond funds.
We are investigating claims that UBS brokers encouraged investors to buy Puerto Rican municipal bonds and were suggesting that their brokerage customers borrow money on home equity lines of credit to buy the bonds and funds from UBS in Puerto Rico. Many UBS brokers, particularly those in Puerto Rico, encouraged their clients to borrow money to invest in UBS funds. Instead of buying the securities outright or using margin accounts through UBS, many customers used home equity loans or lines of credit to fund the purchases after being encouraged to do so by some UBS advisors at UBS’s five branches in Puerto Rico. That is against regulations because all such loans for purchases securities must go through the margin department at the brokerage house under the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Squitieri & Fearon, LLP is investigating whether UBS (especially its brokers in Puerto Rico) mismanaged and misrepresented the funds it offered to investors by concealing problems in the portfolio, including liquidity issues and over-leveraging the portfolios. As the economy in Puerto Rico has declined, UBS’s customers have seen the value of their investments fall significantly.
In particular, our firm is investigating investments in the Tax Free Puerto Rico Fund II which is 55% leveraged and has lost about 40% of its value.
If you are a current or former customer of UBS who invested in Puerto Rico municipal bonds or UBS bond funds, please contact Lee Squitieri by e-mail at lee@sfclasslaw.com or by phone at (212) 421-6492.
You can also complete the following form, and someone from the firm will contact you.