New York Securities Lawyer Blog

A large FINRA arbitration award was recently rendered against Citigroup Inc. (“Citigroup”) for sales practice abuses concerning Citigroup’s selling and marketing of the MAT Five LLC (“MAT Five”). The MAT Five had a $500,000 minimum investment requirement and was promoted to fixed-income investors who were seeking preservation of capital. Citigroup represented that the MAT Five was designed to produce stable cash flows in a tax-advantaged arbitrage opportunity. In actuality, the MAT Five was a very risky investment. Based on these claims, our firm has filed numerous arbitrations against Citigroup on behalf of investors and customers of Citigroup who invested in the MAT Five.

One notable development for investors relates to several FINRA arbitration awards recently rendered against UBS Financial Services, Inc. (“UBS”) for sales practice abuses concerning UBS’s selling and marketing of principal protected structured notes issued by Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. (“Lehman Brothers”), which are structured investment vehicles that combine a fixed income note with a derivative typically linked to an equities index, a group of indices, or other assets. These products were developed, underwritten, offered, marketed and sold by UBS to its customers and investors as safe and principal protected investments; however, they were extremely risky and became worthless when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Based on these claims, our firm has filed numerous arbitrations against UBS on behalf of investors and customers of UBS who invested in Lehman Brothers principal protected structured notes.