Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. -The law firm of Securities Fraud Attorney Mark A. Tepper has filed claim against UBS Financial Services (NYSE:UBS) on behalf of an elderly widow whose family investment assets were meant to provide her and two daughters with income.
The claim contends that instead, a UBS Broker changed her investment account’s objectives to capital appreciation with a “moderate” and “aggressive/speculative” risk tolerance while investing in “risky unit investment trusts” that paid UBS and its broker higher commissions.
“Respondent had unsuitably removed “current income” from its new account form – dramatically changing the customer profile which Respondent needed to determine the suitability of Respondent’s recommendations in Claimant’s account. Without an accurate customer profile, Respondent was “flying blind” while placing Claimant in “harm’s way,” the claim alleges.
“Using an “aggressive/speculative” risk tolerance as the basis for Respondent’s recommendations aggravated the wrongdoing because Respondent was overexposing Claimant’s account to excessive market risk. – which was inconsistent with Claimant’s need to preserve irreplaceable capital,” the claim alleges.
The claim further contends that “Respondent’s registered representative recommended that Claimant surrender, rather than hold, an income producing annuity and misused the proceeds to purchase risky unit investment trusts that paid Respondent and its registered representative higher commissions.”
The broker “repeatedly pressured” the widow’s daughter “to follow his recommendation until she did.” “Respondent had substantially all of Claimant’s liquid assets under its control,” the claim alleges.
About Mark A. Tepper, P.A. (www.MarkTepper.com)
A former Chief Trial Counsel at the Bureau of Investor Protection and Securities, Attorney Mark Tepper has earned the reputation of “Investor Advocate” while practicing law for over 35 years and representing the individual investor. A member of the Florida, New York and California Bars, Mr. Tepper is AV®-rated, the highest rating of lawyers in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.
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