Securities Fraud Attorney Blog
The investment fraud attorneys at Rich, Intelisano & Katz won a $5.2 million FINRA arbitration award for their clients, George and Sandra Schussel, in a case relating to UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy (“YES”). Investors in YES, including the Schussels, suffered significant losses in December 2018. Many investors in YES have since filed FINRA claims against UBS. To date, over 40 of the filed claims have gone to award – approximately half have been in favor of investors while half favored UBS. RIK has been successful in representing multiple YES investors. The September 15, 2022 award of $5.2 million represents the largest YES-related award against UBS to date and an approximately 95% recovery for our clients. Read the full award here.
During the Schussels’ arbitration, RIK’s attorneys stressed that recommending a strategy that the advisor did not fully understand is inherently a breach of their fiduciary duty. After eight days of hearings, the panel unanimously awarded the Schussels over $5,200,000 including $95,000 in pre-judgment interest and $92,000 in costs. The significant award has received the following press coverage: FA-mag, Barron’s, and InvestmentNews.
UBS’s YES strategy is an options overlay strategy which uses investors’ conservative investments as collateral for iron condor options trading. UBS’s financial advisors marketed it as a moderate risk strategy designed to gain additional incremental investment income. Despite UBS’s disclosure statements, UBS never adequately disclosed the true risks of YES – that it was a high risk, low reward strategy. As such, investors in YES, including the Schussels, were shocked to discover significant losses in their YES accounts in December 2018.
In late June, the SEC released a settlement order that found that some of UBS’s financial advisors and clients did not fully understand the significant downside risks of YES (see SEC’s Settlement Order).
RIK’s securities and investment lawyers have significant experience representing investors in FINRA arbitrations relating to options trading, including investors who suffered losses from UBS’s YES. If you have losses due to UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy contact us here to discuss any potential claims you may have.