UBS Overstated Property Values by $100 Million, Dismissed Executive Says

[marmar]

UBS Overvalued Property by $100 Million, Fired Executive Says

By Elliot Blair Smith

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG, Switzerland's biggest bank, charged inflated fees at an $11.7 billion U.S. real-estate fund by overvaluing some commercial properties, a former official alleges in his wrongful-termination lawsuit.

Richard Trusz, 52, who was managing director and head of valuations at UBS Realty Investors LLC in Hartford, Connecticut, said in court papers that before being fired in August he repeatedly clashed with his bosses over returning fees to clients, including public pension funds in Alaska and Iowa.

``No disclosures have been made to clients, no errors have been corrected to reflect accurate information for the respective quarters and no excess fees collected by defendant UBS Realty have been refunded,'' Trusz said in a Sept. 22 complaint filed under the state's so-called whistleblower law in Superior Court in Hartford.

The Zurich-based bank has lost $48.6 billion in the subprime mortgage market, more than any European competitor. UBS also faces a U.S. investigation into whether it illegally helped wealthy investors avoid taxes.

UBS Trumbull Property Fund LP, a private real-estate investment trust, inflated real-estate valuations by as much as $100 million in late 2007 and the first half of this year, according to the lawsuit. Trusz's lawsuit doesn't say how much the REIT may have charged in excess management fees.

``The allegations made by Mr. Trusz are completely without merit and have not been substantiated,'' UBS spokesman Kris Kagel said in an e-mail.

``UBS stands by the valuation-review process we have used and the values that have been reported, and the firm intends to defend itself vigorously in this matter,'' he said. The bank has filed a motion to dismiss the case. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aE3unrW9nV4E&refer=home

[MadMaddie]

1. So are these crimes? Then why the hell aren't these people

being charged with crimes? This is getting to be ridiculous

[Buck Laser]

2. Better yet, why don't they have a subpoena out for Phil Gramm?

As I understand it, he's up to his eyeballs in UBS shit. Phil Gramm? McCain's financial advisor? How about some tar and feathers here, folks?

[Robbien]

3. No disclosure, no corrections and no refunds

So UBS is a going concern with a fictitious hundred mil of assets on its books and who knows how many fraudulent fees were booked as income and paid out to shareholders as dividends.

UBS is crooked from one end to the other.