SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 20, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Securities Arbitration Law Firm of KlaymanToskes, www.perdidasenbonospr.com, together with Carlo Law Offices, P.S.C. located in Puerto Rico, announced today that they filed a claim against Merrill Lynch, a division of Bank of America (BAC), on behalf of a group of investors from Puerto Rico. The claim, filed with FINRA’s arbitration department, seeks to recover losses sustained in Puerto Rico closed end bond funds (“CEBFs”), Puerto Rico Fixed Income Fund III and Puerto Rico Investors Tax Free Fund II, as well as Puerto Rico Government Bonds (“PRGBs”).
According to the Complaint, the case is about family and friends that maintained accounts with Merrill Lynch and trusted that the firm would look out for their financial interests. Instead, Merrill Lynch fraudulently concealed the risk associated with their investments which were invested in leveraged CEBFs that were concentrated in PRGBs. Some of the Claimants also purchased PRGBs that the Merrill Lynch advisor recommended as low risk income producing investments. Each of the Claimants are unsophisticated investors that relied on Merrill Lynch and its financial advisor to monitor their investments and advise whether they should hold and/or sell. Many of the Claimants do not read or write English and the account statements provided by Merrill Lynch were in English. Merrill Lynch breached its fiduciary duty to the Claimants by concealing the risks to their accounts which were invested in aggressive, high risk CEBFs that the Claimants believed to be low risk investments. While Merrill Lynch was aware of Puerto Rico’s struggling economy and the inherent dangers of owning the CEBFs, these risks were never explained and/or disclosed to the Claimants. As a result of Merrill Lynch fraudulently concealing the risks, the Claimants have sustained substantial damages.
The sole purpose of this release is to investigate, on behalf of our clients, the sales practices of Merrill Lynch in connection with the sale of CEBFs and PRGBs to their customers. Current and former customers of Merrill Lynch, or other full-service brokerage firms in Puerto Rico, who purchased CEBFs or PRGBs and have information relating to the manner in which the firm represented these products, are encouraged to contact Steven D. Toskes of KlaymanToskes, or Lcdo. Osvaldo Carlo of Carlo Law Offices, at (787) 919-7325, or visit us on the web at www.perdidasenbonospr.com.