UBS Group AG has confirmed a U.S. Justice Department criminal probe of an unnamed former employee in Puerto Rico, and disclosed a pair of related investigations by other regulators, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The former UBS employee is José Ramirez, a financial adviser who was fired last year. Ramirez has previously been the target of civil claims that he advised clients to take loans from UBS to buy funds from the bank underpinned by Puerto Rico debt securities that lost value, despite the terms of the loans barring their use to purchase securities. In a filing on Tuesday, Zurich-based UBS confirmed the Justice Department’s inquiry, and also disclosed for the first time that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities and Exchange Commission have made related information requests about clients’ use of loans to buy the UBS funds.
