Rich, Intelisano & Katz, LLP (RIK) continues its investigation into UBS’ sale of its Yield Enhancement Strategy or the “YES” options program. Many investors around the country have filed arbitrations against UBS alleging that UBS misrepresented the risks of the options program, failed to implement appropriate risk controls, and failed to supervise the YES options program.
The Yield Enhancement Strategy is run by two UBS registered representatives, Matthew Buchsbaum and Scott Rosenberg. UBS recruited both gentlemen from Credit Suisse in 2015 when Credit Suisse closed its private wealth management business. Messrs. Buchsbaum and Rosenberg ran the YES options program at Credit Suisse for many years.
UBS allowed its financial advisors other than Messrs. Buchsbaum and Rosenberg to market and sell the YES options program to their own clients. Cases filed by aggrieved investors allege that UBS represented that its YES options program was a low-risk strategy to generate modest income. However, the program is actually a complex investment strategy that carried significant risk and caused substantial investor losses.
Various reports claim that there are approximately 1,500 investors in the UBS YES options program who invested approximately $5 billion in strategy. Based upon reported losses, this is an enormous potential liability for UBS. This could be extremely damaging to UBS, especially since the firm is still defending thousands of FINRA arbitrations related to its sale of Puerto Rico bond funds and bonds.
Investors in the UBS YES options program should analyze whether they have potential claims against UBS. They should also do their due diligence into appropriate law firms
to represent them. Some law firms’ model in the securities arbitration space is to take a large amount of cases in one product and attempt to scale to earn profit. RIK does not do that. We take a small amount of strong cases and give each client and case the focus, time and commitment they deserve. RIK has extensive FINRA arbitration experience representing investors who have been defrauded in options strategies. We also have 3 of the top 15 customer arbitration awards of all time. Investors who have any questions about the UBS YES options strategy or FINRA arbitration can call RIK at 212-684-0300.