Administration April 2, 2009

Oregon Aims to Join UBS Fraud Suit

April 2, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The state of Oregon has filed court papers requesting to join an existing securities fraud case against Swiss bank UBS to recover more than $25 million it said was lost by the Public Employees Retirement Fund (PERF).
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In announcing the court filing, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger said the PERF losses followed allegations the bank was involved in a tax evasion scheme, according to the Oregon Statesman Journal .

“We’re talking about some substantial losses that occurred after they began revealing what they’d been up to,” James Sinks, a spokesman for Oregon State Treasurer   Ben Westlund, told the newspaper

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UBS also is accused in the lawsuit (see  Pension Fund Sues UBS ) of not truthfully disclosing its participation in the subprime mortgage market.

According to the newspaper, UBS stock traded above $66 in 2007, but the price began to drop in 2008 as the allegations were made public. The stock closed at $9.89 Wednesday.

UBS entered into a settlement in February with the U.S. government to head off a likely indictment. The company confessed that it had funneled assets from thousands of wealthy Americans out of the U.S. UBS paid $780 million to settle the case.

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