An arbitration panel for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has denied a claim filed by two investors against UBS Wealth Management USA, Advisor Hub reports.
Henry Ingram and his son, Henry Ingram, Jr., brought the $5 million claim in March 2019 over the firm’s Yield Investment Strategy. Known as YES, it is an aggressive and complex options strategy that sustained major losses during times of market volatility in recent years.
As a result of their trading losses, the Ingrams alleged a number of violations, including securities fraud, unsuitability, breach of fiduciary duty, and failure to supervise.
But FINRA’s panel of three arbitrators ruled that UBS was not at fault for the losses they had sustained, and said evidence confirmed that the Ingrams fully understood that YES was aggressive and high risk. Furthermore, the panel said that UBS broker Brent Lane did not recommend or encourage the two investors to buy and continue to hold the YES program, and did not misrepresent the risk level of the strategy.
Lane, a senior vice president at UBS, was granted an expungement of all references to the arbitration from his record.
UBS had marketed YES as a market-neutral strategy aimed at generating additional cash flow from lower-yielding assets through the sale and purchase of S & P 500 index option spreads. About 100 customer claims have been filed over the strategy, but UBS has won 10 of 17 arbitration awards in these cases.
The Chicago FINRA expungement attorneys at Hyman Cotter PC have handled hundreds of arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), JAMS, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and other self-regulatory organizations nationwide. For more information about our arbitration and litigation services, please contact us at 312-291-4600 or through our online contact form.
