Finra fines, suspends ex-UBS rep who liquidated deceased client’s account

Finra has handed down a one-month suspension and financial penalties against a former UBS representative who made unauthorized trades amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars in a deceased client’s account.

According to Finra's Letter of Acceptance, Waver and Consent published Wednesday, Luis E. Nin executed the trades between June 29 and July 6, 2022 in a trust account shortly after learning that the authorized person on the account had passed away.

The deceased was the trust’s grantor and trustee, and the authorization to trade on the account automatically ended upon their death.

“Although Nin confirmed the trades with a relative of the deceased, that person did not have trading authority on the account,” Finra said.

Despite not having the authority to execute transactions on the account, Finra said Nin proceeded to liquidate the account’s holdings—worth over $260,000—to cash in an effort to prevent further market losses that would have eroded the funds.

In a year to forget for countless advisors, 2022 was marred with lowlights including the S&P 500 shedding some 20 percent and a bloodbath for bond investors as the Fed ratcheted up interest rates quickly in an effort to smother inflation, which hit a record high in June that very year.

Against that backdrop of macro and market madness, Nin liquidated the account over the course of ten trades, Finra said, which resulted in $2,551.10 in commissions and sales credits for him.

His actions came to light later when UBS conducted an examination and found he had traded in the account after the client passed away. When asked about it, Nin told his firm he’d received instructions to make those transactions from the customer, according to Finra.

On March 1, 2023, UBS filed a Form U5 informing Finra that it had terminated Nin’s registration “after review determined that he knowingly traded in a deceased client’s account, falsely attested to having spoken to the client, and was not forthcoming when questioned about the trades.”

By trading in the client’s account after they passed away and misrepresenting his actions to his firm, Finra said Nin breached Rule 2010, which requires members to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade.

Nin has agreed to sanctions imposed by Finra, including a $5,000 fine, suspension from associating with any Finra member, and disgorging the commissions he earned.