Finra bars recently fired UBS Miami broker

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has barred a broker that UBS Financial Services Inc. fired earlier this summer for giving clients documents with false account information. The broker, Lorenzo C. Esteva, was based in Miami and was registered with UBS from November 2015 to this July, according to his BrokerCheck report. Prior to that, he worked for Merrill Lynch in Miami for 24 years. Mr. Esteva failed to produce documents and information that Finra requested about the falsified account statements, resulting in his being barred from the securities industry, according to the settlement that was posted Monday on Finra's website. As part of the settlement, Mr. Esteva neither admitted to nor denied any of its findings. A spokesman for UBS, Peter Stack, declined to comment. Mr. Esteva's attorney, Carl Schoeppl, did not return a call to comment. Mr. Esteva "was discharged after he admitted providing a client with documents containing false account information," according to the BrokerCheck report. "Further investigation found that [he] (i) provided at least one more client with documents containing false account information and (ii) improperly journaled money between unrelated client accounts." To journal money means to transfer money between accounts. Brokers must have explicit client permission to move money between customers' accounts. Mr. Esteva has two pending customer disputes, according to his BrokerCheck report. In the first, a client alleges that he provided false account statements from January 2001 to May 2016, according to BrokerCheck. In the second, the client alleges Mr. Esteva was never given permission to open a credit line. "This matter has generated serious economic damage, uncertainty around more loans requested under our name, and the eventual falsification of documents and signature," according to BrokerCheck.