Scott, the spokesman for Tsai and Melchior, said that Marston bought tickets to the charity events for friends and acquaintances “simply to support her favorite causes.” Also, Marston had included the breast cancer charity behind the Pink Tie Ball as a beneficiary of her trust at one time, records show.
Finra Records
Any resolution of Price’s claims may rest on an assessment of Price’s and Melchior’s credibility. Price, who built a $140 million business over three decades, has blemishes on his record. He was named in seven settlements with customers. Four involved UBS’s payout for allegedly misleading investors who had bought auction-rate securities from hundreds of the bank’s advisers. UBS, which didn’t admit or deny wrongdoing, paid $1.9 million for Price’s portion of that settlement. The three other disputes were settled for a total of $160,000, with Price contributing none of his own money.
Price also supervised Melchior and benefited from the revenue he generated. Asked by a securities regulator in a deposition why he hadn’t raised questions about Melchior earlier, Price said the broker had gained his confidence and was left to manage his accounts “without any day-to-day supervision.”
Melchior’s record was spotless before his 2014 firing by UBS, according to filings with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-regulatory agency known as Finra. (Last month, however, Florida regulators fined him $20,000 for borrowing money from a client. Scott, who says that client was Tsai, called it a “technical violation” and a “loan between friends.”) His firing prompted Finra to ask questions and alert Florida officials of a possible case of elder exploitation, a police report said.
As the Finra inquiry accelerated, Price said the bank’s initial support faded. He went to New York to testify in July 2014. UBS lawyers helped him prepare. Then he offered his “contemporaneous journal entries” and other material he says illustrated abuse of the trust. Price claims in his whistle-blower filings that he was then harassed by the bank, culminating in his firing in February of last year.
UBS, in a court filing, said that Price had failed to provide any factual support for his retaliation claim.
In asking the court to toss out Price’s claim, UBS argues that he’s failed to link his firing to any whistle-blowing and that he lacks standing, pointing to a late filing.
Price has persuaded at least some of his former UBS clients to side with him. One of those, Lynn Scheel, a Port St. Lucie pediatrician, said in an interview that when she visited UBS’s local office to pick up paperwork, a UBS adviser appeared in the lobby and said, “I can’t believe you’re going with that criminal.” Scheel moved her money to Price anyway.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.