Securities Fraud Lawyer Blog
On September 29, 2015 the SEC announced that former UBS broker Jose Ramirez of Puerto Rico was charged with making material misrepresentations and omissions and orchestrating a scheme involving the use of credit line proceeds from a UBS affiliated bank to purchase shares in UBS Puerto Rico affiliated mutual funds.
The complaint filed in federal court in Puerto Rico against Jose Ramirez, a former registered representative in UBS’s Guaynabo branch office alleges that Ramirez increased his compensation by at least $2.8 million by having certain customers use proceeds from lines of credit with UBS Bank USA to purchase additional shares in UBSPR closed-end mutual funds.
These funds lost value as the Puerto Rico bond market declined, requiring the customers to pay down a portion of the loans or risk having their investments liquidated.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Jose Ramirez misled customers about the safety of the closed-end funds and the risks of investing in them with borrowed money. He also is alleged to have lied to his branch manager when questioned about suspicious transactions in the closed-end mutual funds. Ramirez was terminated by UBSPR in January 2014.
The above allegations contained in the SEC’s complaint have not been proven, and the issuance of a complaint represents the SEC’s initiation of a formal proceeding in which findings as to the allegations in the complaint have not been made, and does not represent a decision as to any of the allegations contained in the complaint.
Jose Ramirez’ registration and disciplinary history
In order to lawfully sell investments to the public, one must either be registered or exempt from registration. Jose Ramirez was registered with:
According to FINRA’s CRD disclosure report, Jose Ramirez has been the subject of over 60 customer complaints and at least one regulatory investigations.
The Law Office of David Liebrader practices exclusively in the field of investment loss recovery and our securities attorneys have successfully resolved over 1000 investment loss cases over the past 20 years. Recoveries for clients top $40 million. The types of claims we have successfully handled include those involving unsuitable investments (suitability claims), excessive trading or “churning”, misrepresentations and omissions, unauthorized trading, over-concentration of illiquid or overly risky investments, pump and dump scams involving “penny stocks”, direct participation programs (private placements) involving real estate investment trusts (REITS), oil and gas exploration programs, leasing equipment deals and receivable financing, promissory notes whether sold through a broker dealer or as part of the outside business activities of a registered representative, ponzi scheme losses, failure on the part of the broker dealer to perform due diligence, state securities law (blue sky) violations and failure to supervise.
If you have suffered investment losses please call The Law Office of David Liebrader at (702) 380-3131 for a free, confidential consultation