UBS Financial Services Inc. of Puerto Rico and two of its executives have agreed to settle charges of fraudulent conduct related to mutual funds by paying $26.6 million, to be placed into an account for harmed investors.

The fraud consisted of misleading statements made to investors, concealment of a liquidity crisis, and the obscuring of UBS Puerto Rico's control of the secondary market for 23 of its non-exchange-traded, closed-end mutual funds (CEFs). The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought the charges through an Read Full Article

An arbitration claim by Lucy and John Mattinen against White Pacific Securites Inc. (WPS), the firm that employed a broker who misappropriated their money, has gone to arbitration after a federal court in San Francisco declined to enjoin the claim in an order issued March 19.

The claim includes counts for breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation and conversion against Krittibas Ray, the broker,...

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Independent/broker-dealer Basis Financial LLC, and its owner and CEO Armen Karapetyan have been charged with defrauding customers of about $1.8 million over a three year span through four private placement offerings involving financially shaky issuers.

According to a complaint filed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's (FINRA's) Department of Enforcement on Feb. 16, the fraudulent conduct included both material misrepresentations and omissions. Gabriel Goldfine, a sto...

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LPL Financial LLC must pay $1.4 million to an elderly couple who claimed they were the victims of fraud in connection with real estate deals. The award was issued by an arbitration panel of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on Feb. 10.

Heinrich and Araceli Hardt, both 76, bought into real estate deals known as Tenant-in-Common (TIC) exchanges in 2007 and 2008, according to a report from Investment News.

Tenant-in-Common (...

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Tough economic times call for investors to be wary, as financial professionals are tempted toward riskier behaviors, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Industry’s (FINRA) 2012 report on regulatory and examination priorities, released Jan. 31.

The report first lists a few investment characteristics that demand close attention, and then provides a detailed list of products FINRA believes require heightened regulatory, supervisory and investor attention.

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