2013 - Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce

Dec 9, 2013

2013 Most Effective Lawyers Finalist

Daily Business Review Monday, December 9, 2013 ARBITRATION AWARD AGAINST WELLS FARGO RECOVERS MOST OF FAMILY’S LOSSES Mediation and arbitration are supposed to be faster and more cost-effective than going to court. However, it was neither in a case involving the theft of millions of dollars from College Health and Investment L.P., a family-run limited partnership. The case took more than three years to resolve as attorneys for Wachovia Securities, now part of Wells Fargo, used numerous delaying tactics before ultimately paying a $2.75 million arbitration award, said Boca Raton securities attorney Robert W. Pearce, who represented College Health. The case grew out of Wells Fargo’s failure to detect the alleged theft and unauthorized transactions of millions of dollars by Esther Spero, whose aunt, Shari Jakobowitz, was in charge of the partnership’s accounts. Spero was accused of misusing the family’s financial information to steal about $7 million, which she in turn lost to one-time Miami Beach developer Michael Stern, who was supposed to be investing in real estate. Instead, Stern allegedly used the money to pay off his own debts after the real estate crash while funding a lavish lifestyle. Pearce traced most of the money and made recoveries in state court against Stern, a title company, Spero and Wachovia. “They came up a bit short, but we came close to getting most of their money back,” Pearce said. Then, in July, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel ordered Wells Fargo to pay $2.75 million in damages and interest for failing to detect Spero’s alleged embezzlement. Pearce alleged bank employees went so far as to create a false power of attorney to give Spero control over the account that held most of the assets. Had the bank enforced its own policies and procedures, as well as FINRA’s rules, it would have detected the embezzlement, Pearce argued. “The bank had numerous red flags. It should have made inquiries to stop the movement of funds,” Pearce said.

Sep 1, 2013

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.

Jul 9, 2013

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.

Jul 9, 2013

Arbitration panel orders Wells Fargo to pay investor $2.8 million

Tue, Jul 9 2013 By Suzanne Barlyn (Reuters) – A securities regulator ordered Wells Fargo Advisors LLC to pay $2.8 million to an investor who said the firm failed to detect fraudulent transactions and theft in its account, according to a securities arbitration ruling. College Health and Investment Ltd, a family limited partnership, filed the case in Boca Raton, Florida against the Wells Fargo & Co unit in 2010, according to a ruling posted on Tuesday on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s securities arbitration database. The case stemmed from Wells’ failure to detect alleged theft and unauthorized transactions by an employee of the partnership between 2006 and early 2008, according to Robert Wayne Pearce, a lawyer in Boca Raton, Florida, who represented the partnership. A family limited partnership is an estate planning tool used mainly by wealthy families to preserve their assets and minimize certain tax liabilities. The three-person FINRA securities arbitration panel found Wells liable on July 3 and ordered it to pay $2.3 million in damages and interest to the partnership, College Health and Investment Ltd. Wells must also pay $419,000 in margin interest and $35,000 in costs. College Health had sought $4.4 million, according to the FINRA panel ruling. “We’re disappointed in the panel’s decision and don’t believe it was warranted by the facts presented during the hearing,” a Wells Fargo spokeswoman said in a statement. “We are looking into next steps,” she said. A 2010 lawsuit filed by College Health against a former secretary, Esther Spero, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida sheds light on the Miami-based partnership’s troubles. It said Spero forged names of College Health employees who were authorized to transfer funds from its accounts, but transferred the funds for her personal use. In October, 2010, U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida, entered a $21 million judgment against Spero, who did not respond to the partnership’s complaint. Spero allegedly operated the scheme through Wells Fargo and other entities, according to the complaint. Spero could not be reached for comment. Wells tried to seek damages from Spero and another College Health employee in the FINRA arbitration case, but the panel ruled it lacked jurisdiction over them because they were not FINRA-licensed securities brokers. (Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

Jan 2, 2013

Investing in Private Placements

Private placement or “Regulation D” offerings have become an important source of capital for American enterprises. Since 2008, companies have issued over half a billion dollars a year in securities through the private placement market.