Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtiari and Related Co-Counsel Continue Their Investigation of UBS' Sale of Auction Rate Securities


BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., June 26, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtiari announces the continuation of the investigation of UBS sale of Auction Rate Securities. The filing of a complaint by the State of Massachusetts against UBS has brought new facts to light.

"The brokers who sold the Auction Rate Securities at UBS and other Wall Street firms are not targets of arbitration filings. Rather it is the brokerage firms who committed the wrongdoing," according to Philip M. Aidikoff, a partner at Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtiari, of Beverly Hills, Calif., one of four firms around the country who have come together to prosecute these cases. The legal team of experienced securities arbitration counsel also includes the firms of Maddox, Hargett & Caruso, P.C., of Indianapolis, Ind. and New York, N.Y.; Page Perry, LLC, of Atlanta, Ga.; and David P. Meyer & Associates Co., L.P.A., of Columbus, Ohio (www.subprimelosses.com).

The Massachusetts complaint alleges that UBS defrauded its customers in the sale of Auction Rate Securities and quotes internal UBS emails written in the months following August 2007 which evidence concern about the viability of the auction process concluding that "the auction process is flawed." Despite the misgivings about these investments, UBS continued to market these securities to their customers. According to the complaint, Brokers were instructed to tell their customers that these investments were cash equivalents that provided the liquidity and safety of money-market funds. In reality, well known to UBS but undisclosed to its customers, was the fact that no true auctions existed for many of these securities and that UBS had significant conflicts of interest with their own customers. For example, in December 2007, in order to offset the increased inventory that UBS was taking on, David Schulman (Global Head Municipal Securities Group and Head of Fixed Income at UBS Securities), orchestrated an all out sales effort in order to get retail customers to see the "value" in Auction Rate Securities at the prices at which UBS was willing to sell them. Yet, at the same time, Schulman quietly sold all of his holdings in Auction Rate Securities.

According to Boyd Page, a partner at Page Perry, LLC: "Perhaps the most offensive part of UBS conduct was its conscious decision not to inform investors of the risks which it knew existed in the auction rate markets and which it viewed as significant in making its own decisions."

Mr. Aidikoff also added: "Our clients, whether they are institutional, corporate or retail all have one thing in common; the money used to purchase Auction Rate Securities was to be placed in a liquid cash equivalent instrument. The failure of the Auction Rate Market now requires them to sell these at a discount on the secondary market and pursue the difference through a claim in securities arbitration."

More information is available at www.subprimelosses.com or by contacting an attorney.



            

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