OUR STOCKBROKER FRAUD CASES & INVESTIGATIONS

For over 40 years, Attorney Pearce and his staff members at The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. have worked on and continue to work on a wide variety of securities, commodities and investment disputes for investors arising out of stock brokerage, commodity brokerage, insurance and other financial service company’s’ employees, representatives and agents’ misconduct. We represent investors with securities and commodities law issues and a broad range of other practice areas in courtroom litigation, arbitration and mediation proceedings from offices in Boca Raton, Florida across the United States.

Our Florida Attorneys Handle Stockbroker Fraud Cases & Investigations Nationwide

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The most common investor claims have been claims for misrepresentationfailure to disclose important informationunsuitable recommendationschurning or excessive trading, and unauthorized trading in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and options in violation of federal and state statutes, common law and industry rules. However, in the past three years, most of our cases have arisen out of the latest wave of investment products, widespread misconduct with the same investment firms, branch offices and/or brokers. We are presently engaged in a number of cases and investigations involving not only the so-called “garden variety” stock, bond and option claims but many other types of misrepresented and mismanaged investment products and fraudulent schemes.

A brief description of some of our current stockbroker fraud Cases and Investigations with links to other pages within our website and Investors Rights Blog to help answer your questions and help you recover your losses is below:

Merrill Lynch Puerto Rico Stockbroker Wipes Novice Investor Out With Bond Transactions on Margin

The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. filed a claim against Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Incorporated (Merrill Lynch) for an investor residing in Puerto Rico (the “Claimant”) arising out of Merrill Lynch’s Puerto Rico office. A summary of Claimant’s allegations against Merrill Lynch are set forth below. If you or any family member received similar misrepresentations and/or misleading statements from Merrill Lynch and its Puerto Rico stockbrokers or found yourself with an account overconcentrated in Puerto Rico municipal bonds and/or closed-end bond funds, or if you borrowed monies from Merrill Lynch and used your investments as collateral for those loans, we may be able to help you recover your losses. Contact our office for a free consultation about your case.

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Santander Securities Broker Switches Investors Into Unsuitable Closed End Funds

The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. filed yet another claim against Santander Securities, LLC (Santander). A summary of the allegations the Claimant made against the Puerto Rico based brokerage is below. If you or any family member received similar misrepresentations and/or misleading statements from Santander and its stockbrokers or found yourself with an account overconcentrated in closed-end bond funds, or if you borrowed monies from Santander and used your investments as collateral for those loans, we may be able to help you recover your losses. Contact our office for a free consultation about your case.

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UBS Puerto Rico Made Unsuitable Recommendations To Pledge Closed-End Funds Against Bank Loans

The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. filed yet another claim against UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico (UBS Puerto Rico). A summary of the allegations the Claimant made against the Puerto Rico based brokerage is below. If you or any family member received similar misrepresentations and/or misleading statements from UBS Puerto Rico and its stockbrokers or found yourself with an account overconcentrated in closed-end bond funds, or if you borrowed monies from UBS Puerto Rico and used your investments as collateral for those loans, we may be able to help you recover your losses. Contact our office for a free consultation about your case.

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Another UBS Puerto Rico Investor Sues Brokerage For Unsuitable Investments

The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. filed another claim against UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico (UBS Puerto Rico). A summary of the allegations the Claimant made against the Puerto Rico based brokerage is below. If you or any family member received similar misrepresentations and/or misleading statements from UBS Puerto Rico and its stockbrokers or found yourself with an account overconcentrated in closed-end bond funds, or if you borrowed monies from UBS Puerto Rico and used your investments as collateral for those loans, we may be able to help you recover your losses. Contact our office for a free consultation about your case.

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Retired Couple Lose Life Savings Due To Santander Securities Stock Recommendations

The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. filed its first claim against Santander Securities. Below is a summary of the allegations made by the Claimants against the Puerto Rico based brokerage. If you or any family member received similar misrepresentations and misleading statements from Santander Securities and its stockbrokers or found yourself with an account overconcentrated in Puerto Rico bank preferred stocks, or if you borrowed monies from Santander Securities and used your investments as collateral for those loans, we may be able to help you recover your losses.

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The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. Wins $600,000 Plus Interest Award Against UBS Puerto Rico

In an arbitration proceeding against UBS Financial Services, Inc. of Puerto Rico (UBS-PR), the Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P. A. won a $600,000 plus interest award for one of the firm’s clients. A summary of Claimant’s allegations against UBS-PR are set forth below. If you or any family member received similar unsuitable recommendations from UBS-PR and its stockbrokers or found yourself with an account overconcentrated in Puerto Rico municipal bonds and/or closed-end bond funds, or if you borrowed monies from UBS and used your investments as collateral for those loans, we may be able to help you recover your losses. Contact our office for a free consultation about your case.

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Eighty Year Old Investor Sues UBS Puerto Rico

Attorney Robert Wayne Pearce filed another claim against UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico (UBS Puerto Rico) and this time the claim was by an eighty (80) year old Puerto Rico resident who alleged he was tricked into making an over-concentrated investment in a variety of UBS Puerto Rico closed-end bond funds and told to hold them until they collapsed. A summary of the allegations the Claimant made against the Puerto Rico based brokerage firm is below. If you or any family member have heard similar misrepresentations and/or misleading statements from UBS Puerto Rico and its stockbrokers or found yourself with an investment account over-concentrated in closed-end bond funds, or if you borrowed monies from UBS Puerto Rico and used your investments as collateral for those loans, we may be able to help you recover your losses.

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The Pearce Law Firm Files First Claim Against UBS Puerto Rico

The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. filed its first claim against UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico (UBS Puerto Rico). A summary of the allegations the Claimant made against the Puerto Rico based brokerage is below. If you or any family member heard similar misrepresentations and misleading statements from UBS Puerto Rico and its stockbrokers or found yourself with an account overconcentrated in closed-end bond funds, or if you borrowed monies from UBS Puerto Rico and used your investments as collateral for those loans, we may be able to help you recover your losses.

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Municipal Arbitrage Structured Products

The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. has handled over 100 cases and investigations involving another form of complex structured products. They are structured credit products crafted from municipal bonds, tender option bonds, swap contracts, swaptions, and sold as “arbitrage”, “hedged” and “fixed income” investments to lure in investors with conservative risk profiles seeking to incrementally increase the yields and risk in their bond portfolio. However, according to Attorney Pearce many of the products were not arbitrage, not fully hedged and not fixed income products. Representing clients throughout Florida and nationwide. Se habla español The so-called municipal bond “arbitrage” strategy was a very complex investment strategy involving multiple investments in the tax exempt and taxable fixed income markets. The fund managers invested in long tax exempt municipal bonds and, in effect, shorted the equivalent of taxable corporate bonds utilizing libor swap contracts and swaptions. The key to the success of the strategy was “market timing” and the “continued correlation” of the tax exempt municipal bond yields and the libor swap contract yields. It was originally used by many banks as a short term trading strategy. But many firms converted it to a flawed long term buy and hold strategy to maximize their own sales commissions and management fees. The largest issuer of the securities Citigroup, under the Smith Barney division and Citibank divisions, marketed these products as MAT and ASTA. Our firm has handled over 100 MAT and ASTA investor cases in the last three years. Other faulty municipal arbitrage structured products include the Anchor Capital, Aravali, Belvedere Tax Advantaged, Blue River, TW Advantaged and 1861 Capital funds. We have helped our clients recover millions of dollars of investment losses in the so-called “municipal arbitrage” funds. For more information about our municipal arbitrage cases and investigations involving Smith Barney, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith and other issuers of the so-called municipal arbitrate products, click on the links below: Our MAT/ASTA Cases & Investigation FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION WITH MUNICIPAL ARBITRAGE INVESTMENT DISPUTE ATTORNEYS The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. understands what is at stake in securities, commodities and investment law matters and constantly strives to secure the most favorable possible result. Attorney Pearce provides a complete review of your Municipal Arbitrage case and fully explains your legal options. The firm works to ensure that you have all of the information necessary to make a sound decision before any action is taken in your case. For dedicated representation by a law firm with substantial experience in all kinds of securities, commodities and investment disputes, contact the firm by telephone at 561-338-0037 or toll free at 800-732-2889 or via e-mail. We may also be able to arrange a meeting with you at offices located in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida and elsewhere.

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Wells Fargo Advisors Ordered to Pay $2.8 Million to Limited Partnership

By Dow Jones Business News, July 09, 2013, 04:07:00 PM EDT By Corrie Driebusch NEW YORK–An arbitration panel has ordered Wells Fargo Advisors to pay $2.8 million to a family limited partnership that accused the firm of negligence in connection with alleged thefts from its investment account. The Miami , Fla.-based partnership had sued a former secretary, accusing her of forging signatures to transfer money out of its accounts, and won a $21 million judgment in a Florida district court in 2010. That suit alleged the secretary, Esther Spero, took the money for her personal use from accounts at Wachovia Securities and elsewhere between 2005 and 2008. Wachovia was later acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC ). In its separate arbitration claim against Wells Fargo, the partnership, called College Health and Investment Ltd., said the brokerage was negligent in failing to detect the alleged theft. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel found Wells Fargo to be liable and ordered that it pay $ 2.3 million in damages and prejudgment interest. Wells Fargo also must also pay $419,000 in margin interest and $35,000 in costs. College Health and Investment Ltd. had requested $4.4 million, according to the arbitration panel ruling. As is customary in the FINRA claims system, the written award did not explain the panel’s reasoning. Robert Wayne Pearce, lawyer for the partnership, said it showed the panel agreed with the negligence claim. A Wells Fargo spokesman said in a statement, “We’re disappointed in the panel’s decision and don’t believe it was warranted by the facts presented during the hearing.” Write to Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@dowjones.com. Dow Jones Newswires 07-09-131607ET Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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