A former UBS advisor faces up to 60 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to defrauding more than $5 million from a family that had opened several accounts at the firm, according to the Justice Department.
The guilty plea came several months after the DOJ and Securities and Exchange Commission both charged German Nino in Florida federal court for his role in the scheme. Nino was charged with eight counts of wire fraud by the Justice Department, and was accused of spending the money on "romantic partners" and to pay back a separate client, according to the SEC.
Nino had previously worked at Merrill Lynch and HSBC Securities before joining UBS in 2012, according to his BrokerCheck profile. At UBS, Nino managed investment accounts for numerous clients, including an unnamed couple and their son at the center of the case against him.
In total, the family invested about $11 million in numerous UBS accounts. Starting around May 2014, Nino began making unauthorized transfers from three of those accounts, eventually siphoning off more than $5.8 million.
According to the SEC complaint, Nino would liquidate the victim’s securities at the time he made the unauthorized wire transfers and put the stolen funds into a separate bank account. Nino allegedly spent about $1.2 million repaying a prior fraud victim, and $4.6 million on several girlfriends, buying them gifts and vacations, as well as luxury cars and paying school tuition.
To hide the transfers, Nino constantly misrepresented the balance remaining in the family’s investment accounts, including the performance of their investments. He forged signatures in order to hide that the transfers were unauthorized.
At one point, Nino removed one victim’s email from their UBS account profile so that they wouldn’t receive notices about the unauthorized transfers, and even forged their signature on a land purchase contract to make it look like they were buying land in Colombia, according to the DOJ.
By early 2020, Nino had made 62 unauthorized transfers from the family’s accounts, according to the DOJ. But the family’s son began noticing discrepancies and confronted Nino about the balances, according to the SEC complaint. Nino confessed and told the son he’d pay them back with a signing bonus from joining a new firm, but the client’s son allegedly told UBS about the fraud. UBS asked to interview Nino, and, in response, he resigned, according to the commission.
Sentencing for Nino is scheduled for June 21 in Florida federal court, according to the DOJ.