September 24, 2021
UBS Wealth Administration USA this week was profitable in clawing again from two of its former brokers greater than $1 million owed in promissory notes.
Within the bigger of the awards, a Financial institution of America personal banker who had left UBS in September 2016 has been ordered by a panel of Monetary Trade Regulatory Authority arbitrators to pay again greater than half one million {dollars} owed in promissory notes, in line with an award finalized Tuesday.
Jason L. Seifert, based mostly in Cleveland, Ohio, had joined UBS in 2011 from FifthThird Securities, in line with his BrokerCheck report.
UBS, which had alleged breach of 11 promissory notes in a January 2020-filed assertion of declare, was awarded $541,721.69 in compensatory damages with 2% per-year curiosity from 30 days after the award date by means of last fee by Seifert, in line with the choice.
The wirehouse initially sought the notes stability of $514,721.69, plus curiosity and different prices and charges, and through an evidentiary listening to this month pegged that quantity at $582,256.73, in line with the letter. The agency had additionally requested $120,000 in attorneys’ charges and that each one discussion board charges be assessed to Seifert, however the panel ordered UBS and Seifert to separate the $11,700 in listening to charges.
Like many main companies, UBS pays prime brokers signing gives structured as ‘forgivable’ loans that may attain three-times a brokers’ annual income, together with back-end deferred bonuses, but in addition require them to remain on the agency for upwards of a decade earlier than the loans are totally forgiven. UBS had $1.82 billion in excellent forgivable mortgage balances tied to recruiting within the U.S. on the finish of the second quarter, down 6% from $1.93 billion a 12 months in the past, in line with the Swiss financial institution’s most up-to-date earnings report.
Seifert denied UBS’ allegations and in an April 2020-filed counterclaim accused the agency of constructing “substantial errors and misrepresentations concerning FINRA Protocol” previous to hiring him that induced injury to his shopper relationships, fame, revenue and “capacity to succeed” on the agency, in line with the letter. He had requested $3,554,936 in compensatory damages and $764,000 in exemplary damages, the letter stated.
His counterclaim was in the end denied by the three-person Finra panel, which included two ‘public’ and one ‘private’ arbitrators.
Seifert didn’t reply to a request for remark. His lawyer, Jeffrey C. Miller with Cleveland-based regulation agency Brennan, Manna, & Diamond, declined to touch upon the arbitration or underlying matter.
A spokeswoman for UBS, which had denied Seifert’s counterclaims, additionally declined to touch upon the dispute.
Between his UBS exit and becoming a member of BofA’s personal financial institution in February 2020, Seifert did a roughly three-and-a-half-year stint with Key Non-public Financial institution throughout which period he was not registered as a dealer, in line with his BrokerCheck report and his LinkedIn profile. He had began his brokerage profession in 2005 at Natcity Investments, leaving 4 years later for Fifth Third, in line with his BrokerCheck report.
Within the second dispute, finalized Thursday, UBS clawed again from a former San Antonio, Texas-based dealer $538,122.48 in notes plus pre- and post-judgment curiosity. The dealer in that case, Ricardo Turlan, had been discharged from UBS in 2019 over allegations of exercising discretion in two shopper accounts with out written authorization and extreme buying and selling, in line with his BrokerCheck report, which indicated he has not labored within the business since his termination.
Turlan, who had logged 14 years within the business, didn’t make an look within the arbitration or reply to UBS’ allegations. He couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
In a court docket submitting in July, UBS stated it had spent over $60,000 in authorized charges as a part of a promissory observe dispute involving one other dealer who left the agency 16 years in the past, underscoring the period of time, effort and cash wirehouses are prepared to expend pursuing brokers who depart with out paying again observe balances.