{"id":49731,"date":"2016-12-07T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T21:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo2016.hispanicprwire.com\/english-puerto-rico-investor-represented-by-dennin-law-awarded-record-18-5mm-finra-arbitration-panel-against-ubs-and-ubs-pr\/"},"modified":"2016-12-07T12:26:15","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T16:26:15","slug":"inversor-de-puerto-rico-representado-por-dennin-law-logra-un-laudo-record-de-18-5-millones-del-panel-de-arbitraje-de-finra-contra-ubs-y-ubs-pr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/inversor-de-puerto-rico-representado-por-dennin-law-logra-un-laudo-record-de-18-5-millones-del-panel-de-arbitraje-de-finra-contra-ubs-y-ubs-pr\/","title":{"rendered":"Puerto Rico Investor Represented By Dennin Law, Awarded Record $18.5MM FINRA Arbitration Panel Against UBS And UBS-PR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\"><![CDATA[\n\/* Style Definitions *\/\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Dec. 6, 2016<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212;\u00a0The Financial Industry Regulatory Association&#8217;s Office of Dispute Resolution published a record <span class=\"xn-money\">$18<\/span>.5MM securities arbitration award on behalf of <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> investor <span class=\"xn-person\">Rafael Vizcarrondo<\/span> against UBS Financial Services, Inc. and its <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> affiliate, UBS Financial Services, Inc. of <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> (&#8220;UBS-PR&#8221; individually, and both entities, collectively, &#8220;UBS&#8221;).\u00a0 Mr. Vizcarrondo, an attorney and a businessman, filed his claim in <span class=\"xn-chron\">August 2014<\/span> following the collapse of the <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> municipal bond market which began in <span class=\"xn-chron\">August 2013<\/span>. This case was prosecuted by prominent securities and investor rights attorney <span class=\"xn-person\">Timothy J. Dennin<\/span> of <span class=\"xn-person\">Timothy J. Dennin<\/span>, P.C. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.denninlaw.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.denninlaw.com<\/a>) with offices in <span class=\"xn-location\">Manhattan<\/span> and <span class=\"xn-location\">Northport<\/span>, Long Island N.Y.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Vizcarrondo alleged in his statement of claim and during his twenty-four day arbitration hearing that UBS through it financial advisors recommended purchases of proprietary non-diversified closed-end <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> municipal bond funds (&#8220;UBS FUNDS&#8221;) that during 2012 and 2013 resulted in 97% of his UBS liquid assets being allocated into these overconcentrated products.\u00a0 The stated investment objectives and risk parameters for the UBS FUNDS recommended to Mr. Vizcarrondo and other <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> investors were to provide &#8220;current income&#8221; or &#8220;high income&#8221; exempt from U.S. federal and <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> income taxes &#8220;consistent with the preservation of capital.&#8221;\u00a0 The well known, commonly understood (in academia and by investment professionals) risks associated with the UBS FUNDS&#8217; overconcentration of investments in a single geographic market were amplified by the internal leverage employed by the UBS FUNDS.<\/p>\n<p>In <span class=\"xn-chron\">August 2012<\/span>, Mr. Vizcarrondo began to periodically question his UBS financial advisors about the safety of his principal invested in the UBS FUNDS.\u00a0 Mr. Vizcarrondo alleged that not only did UBS recommend that he hold on to his existing FUNDS positions but that he should continue to purchase additional shares of the UBS FUNDS through dividend reinvestments and new funds deposited into his accounts. \u00a0Mr. Vizcarrondo alleged that UBS&#8217;s recommendations of a leveraged portfolio highly overconcentrated in <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> municipal bond issuers was unsuitable or inconsistent with his investment objective of seeking current income consistent with his articulated desire to protect his principal.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Vizcarrondo also alleged that UBS failed to disclose to him the existing, growing and specific risk of the illiquidity of the UBS Funds shares that he owned.\u00a0 At all relevant times during 2012 and 2013, UBS was never a market maker in the UBS FUNDS shares but a &#8220;market facilitator&#8221; assisting its customers&#8217; sales of their shares through both firm proprietary account purchases and through arranging cross-trades with other UBS customers.\u00a0 Mr. Vizcarrondo asserted during the arbitration that UBS failed to disclose to him the growing risk that due to the UBS FUNDS&#8217; low and declining daily trading volume, UBS would be unable to liquidate his large positions in certain funds over a period of multiple months.<\/p>\n<p>The above-referenced FINRA <span class=\"xn-money\">$18<\/span>.5MM arbitration award included compensatory damages (<span class=\"xn-money\">$12<\/span>.7MM), 9% simple interest (<span class=\"xn-money\">$2<\/span>.5MM), expert witness fees <span class=\"xn-money\">($163,000)<\/span> and attorneys&#8217; fees (<span class=\"xn-money\">$3<\/span>.179MM).<\/p>\n<p>The case was litigated by former SEC enforcement and longtime investor rights attorney <span class=\"xn-person\">Timothy J. Dennin, Esq.<\/span> of <span class=\"xn-location\">Northport<\/span>, NY.\u00a0 Mr. Dennin&#8217;s local <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> counsel in the case included <span class=\"xn-person\">Rafael Lugo, Esq.<\/span> and <span class=\"xn-person\">Joseph Marrero-Mathieu, Esq.<\/span> of <span class=\"xn-person\">Lugo Sotomayor Law<\/span> &amp; Associates, P.S.C., <span class=\"xn-location\">San Juan, Puerto Rico<\/span>; <span class=\"xn-person\">Jose A. Andreu Garcia<\/span> and <span class=\"xn-person\">Jose A. Andreu Fuentes, Esq.<\/span> of Andreu &amp; Sagardia, <span class=\"xn-location\">San Juan, Puerto Rico<\/span>; and <span class=\"xn-person\">Thomas F. Shine, Esq.<\/span>, Indialantic, FL.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>Mr. Dennin has successfully represented numerous investors in connection their claims against UBS who sold to them closed-end <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> municipal bond funds and individual <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> municipal bonds.<\/p>\n<p><b>For information, contact:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"xn-person\">Timothy J. Dennin, Esq.<\/span>, a former Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Enforcement attorney and former assistant district attorney (<span class=\"xn-location\">New York<\/span>), 631-261-0250, <a href=\"mailto:secatty@denninlaw.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">secatty@denninlaw.com<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.denninlaw.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.denninlaw.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xn-content\">\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">Dec. 6, 2016<\/span> \/PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE\/ &#8212;\u00a0The Financial Industry Regulatory Association&#8217;s Office of Dispute Resolution published a record <span class=\"xn-money\">$18<\/span>.5MM securities arbitration award on behalf of <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> investor <span class=\"xn-person\">Rafael Vizcarrondo<\/span> against UBS Financial Services, Inc. and its <span class=\"xn-location\">Puerto Rico<\/span> affiliate, UBS Financial Services, Inc. of &lt;span&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-negocios-y-finanzas"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hispanicprwire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}