nettime's_anonymizer on Thu, 6 Sep 2001 23:16:42 +0200 (CEST)


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<nettime> peeping into the world of swiss fund managers


(This appears to be a first person complaint about how Swiss Banks conduct
business. I cannot vouch for it, but it sure is interesting reading.)

QUESTIONNAIRE

On behalf of the Leisinger Family Pension Fund
46 St. Peter's Crescent, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex TN40 2EJ, England and
Calle Hungria 24, Urb. La Cantera, 29600 Marbella, Spain

Luqman Arnold, Esq.
CEO
UBS AG
United Bank of Switzerland
Paradeplatz PO Box
CH-8098 Zuerich

Date: 28th August 2001

Dear Sir,

Re: Leisinger Family Pension Fund Account No. 10855093

We refer to the purported above account which has been with your bank
(formerly Swiss Bank Corporation) for some 30 years and request your answers
and explanations and in consequence a full restitution, appropriate
compensation plus costs and fees incurred and proper management of the
aforementioned pension fund:

1. Why was the purported account operated based on an account application
without a mutually signed formal contract stating your terms of business and
including all beneficiaries?

1a. Why was the account application form in German when the person whose
name appears in the application form does not speak or understand German and
you knew perfectly well, would not have had the slightest idea of what he
was signing?

1b. Why is the legal domicile of the person in whose name the account
application form was made stated as being an address in Switzerland when in
fact this person has never been domiciled in Switzerland?

1c. Why did you officially and internally process and act upon this invalid
and legally invalid account application knowing that it was dated and signed
in London and knowing that the person in whose name it was made was a
British Citizen, born, resident and domiciled in England?

1d. Why did you not pass or refer this application to your London office for
proper documentation, management, operation and establishment of a proper
and legally valid account and appropriate and relevant advice?

1e. Why did you illegally transfer this purported account from Basel to your
Zuerich headquarters?

1f. Why did you illegally convert this purported account into an anonymous
number account?

1g. The account application states unequivocally that the account was to be
operated in Swiss Francs. Why did you subsequently operate illegally foreign
currency accounts in particular an illegal and unauthorised US Dollar
account?

1h. The account application clearly does not authorise current accounts in
foreign exchange. Why did you subsequently open and operate an illegal US
Dollar current account?

1i. The account application does not authorise loans, advances, credits or
debts in general. Why did you subsequently incur massive debts on the
illegal US Dollar account?

1k. On the same date as the account application was made, a power of
attorney (Vollmacht) was made in connection with the same purported account
and relating exclusively to the same purported account. Why did you act upon
this Vollmacht when it clearly is invalid and illegal -as is the account
itself- in that it states that the very same person who in the account
application form is falsely stated as being domiciled in Switzerland is now
stated as being domiciled in England; whilst the person in whose name the
Vollmacht has been issued is indicated as residing in Switzerland when you
were perfectly well aware that this person was not resident in Switzerland
and had not been resident in Switzerland for decades?

1l. Why was this Vollmacht obtained in German when you were perfectly well
aware that the person giving the Vollmacht did neither speak nor understand
German and would not have had the slightest idea of what he was signing?

2. Some five years later yet another official form in German was issued
under the name of Form A "Erklaerung bei der Eroeffnung eines Kontos oder
Depots" (Declaration upon Opening of an Account or Deposit) in connection
with the same account to comply with Swiss Law Art. 3 and 4. Why was this
declaration which should clearly have been made upon the opening of a
purported account made 5 years after the account application?

2a. Why was this declaration issued in German knowing that the person
signing it would not know what he was signing?

2b. Why was the residence of all the persons named in this document stated
as being at an address in Switzerland when you knew perfectly well that none
of these persons had ever lived or resided in Switzerland but were born,
resided and were domiciled in England.

2c. Why did you not at that time refer the purported account and all these
official forms and documents to your London office for proper legal
understanding, clarification, advice, management and operation of a properly
constituted account to safeguard the assets and establish proper,
advantageous and correct financial welfare of all beneficiaries and thus
prevent the ruin of the pension fund?

2d. When subsequently additional monies and assets were paid and lodged with
the purported account; why did you not issue the same declaration for the
additional beneficiaries?

2e. Why was the opportunity not taken to validate the purported account and
to include all beneficiaries?

3. When Swiss Bank Corporation apparently ceased to exist some 13 years
later; why did you not address the aforementioned illegalities and

a) refer the purported account to your London office for proper and legally
valid operation, management and advice to safeguard the assets and ongoing
welfare of the beneficiaries?

b) correct the invalidity and illegality of the purported account and its
surrounding documentation?

c. Why did you issue a document named "Pfandbestellung", i.e. creation of
pledge in German in 1998 without first addressing the invalidity and
illegality of the purported account, the illegal and invalid Vollmacht and
the fact that there were now many additional beneficiaries whose assets you
had obtained without their authority?

d. Why did you not make contact with the beneficiaries of the purported
account to discuss, validate and legalise all documentation and thereby
comply with your legal, obligatory and fiduciary duties which would have
uncovered the previous illegalities? Simultaneously you would have prevented
the subsequent illegalities and debacle for which you bear full
responsibility.

e. Why had you never ever made contact with any of the account beneficiaries
that were known to you?

f) Why did you act upon the so-called purported Pfandbestellung (Creation of
Pledge) when it is an illegal and invalid document for the aforementioned
and the following reasons?

f1. The purported Pfandbestellung is purportedly signed and dated the 3rd
December 1998; this signature is certified by an official of UBS as having
been signed in the presence of the said UBS official on the 26th
October1998.

f2. The purported Pfandbestellung states that the purported Account owner/s,
resp. debtor/s must sign the Pfandbestellung if the assets charged/pledged
are deposited by a third party. As you know the assets have all been
deposited by Third Parties and therefore the purported account owner/s resp.
debtor/s should have signed the purported Pfandbestellung. Why did you
fail to obtain such signatures and authority?

f3. Why was this vital legal requirement not complied with at the various
dates that the purported Pledge order was officially date stamped by you;
i.e. in August 1998 (when in fact it was not apparently signed until the 3rd
December 1998; and again on the 26th October 1998 and again on the 11th
January 1999?

f4. Why was this invalid and illegal Pledge order acted upon after the
purported account was illegally and without authority transferred to
Zuerich; first by your Spanish division and subsequently by your Financial
Services division?

4. Why were the clear and obvious illegalities not uncovered and the entire
illegality and invalidity of the purported account, the purported Vollmacht
and the purported Pledge Order addressed and all beneficiaries informed?

5. On the 11th March 1999 a purported document under the name of "Duplicata"
addressed to 855093 with reference to 10855093 your department PA B&V-4 /
Fernand Cuenod was purportedly signed on the 17th March 1999 in the presence
of a UBS officer L.Fischer, VD. This document purports to increase an
already existing creditline of CHF4'500'000.-- to CHF5'000'000 (Swiss Francs
fivemillion).

5a. How can this document purportedly have been signed in the presence of a
UBS officer (L.Fischer, VD) when it states that it must be signed legally
validated by way of a copy being returned to UBS?

5b. Why was this purported creditline issued?

5c. What was the purpose of issuing such a massive purported creditline?

5d. Why is there no legally valid contract in respect of this purported
creditline?

5e. Why did you extend such a massive and totally irresponsible purported
creditline?

5f. Why did you fail to inform the owners and beneficiaries of the purported
account and obtain their authority before extending such a massive and
irresponsible purported creditline?

5g. Why was the obvious illegality of this purported creditline not
addressed and exposed on the 25th May 1999 when you officially date stamped
the purported "Duplicata" letter of the 11th March 1999?

5h. Why did your Zuerich officers, after the purported account was illegally
transferred to Zuerich, fail to uncover and address the illegality of this
purported creditline?

5i. Why did you subsequently without authority and completely illegally
further misuse these illegal and invalid documents to incur massive illegal
US Dollar advances, credits and loans?

6. After obtaining the purported account from Swiss Bank Corporation; why
did you fail to establish proper, correct and legally valid account
documentation on behalf of UBS and updating and including all beneficiaries?

7. Why did you throughout the existence of the purported account - until it
was illegally transferred to Zuerich - apply an extremely conservative and
ultrasafe investment policy?

8. Why did you permit for the bulk of the assets to be invested in your own
(Swiss Bank Corporation shares) for more than a decade, knowing that these
shares had little if any upside potential due to the Holocaust account
situation?

9) Why did you specifically fail to sell the Swiss Bank Corporation shares
at CHF650 after the Holocaust settlement (for which Mr. Felix Leisinger's
published letter in the Financial Times was substantially responsible), and
thereby permit the pension fund to make good years of underperformance?

10) Why did you fail to benefit the pension fund during the boom years of
1995 to March 2000?

11) Why did you accept and bank L90,000 from the Family company pension
fund, L225,000 from the sale of the Family Factory in England, FFr.750,000
from the sale of the Paris Artist's studio, L75,000 from the London Artist's
Studio, L900,000 Pound Sterling emanating from the sale of the family home
in England etc. and convert this money into Swiss Francs? What have you done
with this money over the years and where is it now?

11a. Why did you obtain, accept and bank substantial sums of monies
originating from children's savings accounts that were already with your own
bank?

11b. What was your purpose of obtaining, accepting and banking monies from
children's savings accounts?

11c. What have you done with this money originating from children's savings
accounts over the years and where is it now?

12. Why did you fail to contact all the beneficiaries and discuss a valid,
secure and safe investment policy in accordance with your longstanding
global and national advertising, documentations and your Annual Review 1999
and other false and misleading promises made and expectations created?

13. Why did you transfer the purported account to your Spanish Division,
knowing that most of the beneficiaries were resident and domiciled in
Britain?

14. Why did you transfer the account from the Spanish Division to your
Financial Services Group?

15. Why did you open an illegal US Dollar account?

16. Why did you carry out, execute and transact illegal stock market
transactions on the United States stock exchanges?

17. Why did you carry out, execute and transact illegal stock market
transactions on the United States stock exchanges - as from March 2000 -
knowing that the market was grossly overvalued, overbought and on the verge
of an equally long and overdue decline?

18. Why did you carry out, execute and transact illegal stock market
transactions on the United States stock exchanges - as from March 2000 -
incurring illegal, massive, totally irresponsible and unsecured loans?

19. Why did you knowingly breach Spanish and English offshore regulations?

20. Why did you misappropriate the assets of the beneficiaries of the
Leisinger Family Pension Fund to first cover and then repay the illegal US
Dollar loans that you incurred on the illegal US Dollar account when
predictably the stock market collapsed within three weeks of your commencing
to transact and execute totally unsuitable, high risk and inappropriate US
stock market transactions?

21. Why did you falsely state that the illegal loans were covered by the
aforementioned illegal and purported documentation?

22. why did you falsely state that you had the right to repay the illegal
loans with assets which you misappropriated from the Leisinger Family
Pension Fund?

23. Why did you commence in March 2000 to buy and/or execute and transact US
stocks at their most overvalued and overbought prices and sell the same
stocks at their lowest and oversold prices.

23a. Why did you supply to your presumed client thousands of totally
unsuitable, inappropriate, high risk and completely irresponsible stock
recommendations with a misleading aggregate printed and apparently justified
target value in excess of US Dollar200million?

23b. Why did your UBS Warburg subsidiary consistently contradict your
purported "sell messages" which you purportedly made to your presumed
client, with buy and strong buy recommendations that were published and
printed on Yahoo Finance on the Internet?

23c. Why did your apparently unlicensed US broker team consistently
contradict your purported "sell messages" with hold or buy recommendations
to your presumed client?

23d. Why was your presumed client told that "messages" had to be
contradictory to avoid charges of insider trading?

23e. Why was your presumed client told that you did not execute buy and sell
transactions in the market but obtained such stocks from your own holdings
by your own subsidiaries such as UBS Warburg, UBS Warburg Dillon Read and
UBS Paine Webber?

24. Why did you deny that the monies and assets constituted Pension fund
monies and assets?

25. Why have you throughout breached your own stated and legally binding
statements as to your bank's assurances about asset security, safety and
ongoing lifecycle events analysis? Specifically that UBS AG and its
worldwide subsidiaries in particular UBS Warburg misled the pension fund
beneficiaries in their Swiss and foreign Advertising Campaigns by constantly
engendering and reinforcing clients into a false sense of trust in the
integrity, investment-expertise and clientcare to safeguard asset-security
by UBS AG and its Financial Advisors. Especially the Advertising campaign
which has been running for years and which is still today to be seen,
whereby clients are told to dedicate themselves to their hobbies whilst the
UBS Financial Advisor is concentrating on increasing the clients' assets; in
the sense that UBS clients do not need to concern themselves with their
finances because the experts of UBS AG who have been specially trained in
this respect, keep these comprehensively and securely safeguarded.

26. Why did you know - after commencing in March 2000 to execute and
transact totally unsuitable, high risk and inappropriate and illegal US
stock transactions - that the market was destined to fall further - yet
apparently did not know this in March 2000 when all major reputable Banks
and Investment Advisors and Experts started selling stocks while you started
buying and executing transactions that were predestined to ruin whoever you
presumed to be your client?

27. Was there a deliberate attempt to ruin whomsoever you presumed to beyour
client?

28. If not, what was the purpose of the ruinous, disastrous, inappropriate
and totally irresponsible and foremost illegal stock market episode?

29. After this illegal and ruinous episode lasting less than 9 months from
March 2000 which you carried out for a presumed client you decided to cancel
the "relationship" with your bank in respect of the illegal and unauthorised
US Dollar account.

30. In the circumstances we believe we are entitled to demand the full
restitution of the stand of the Pension Fund as per its last official
Account Certificate that you have issued as at the 22nd December 1999 in the
sum of CHF11'776'736.--plus costs, legal fees plus full compensatory
damages for serious injuries, hardship and trauma suffered by all of the
beneficiaries.

We trust that you will not wish to prolong the suffering and trauma of the
beneficiaries of the monies and assets that have financed your bank over
some 30 years and which have left the pension fund ruined while your bank
has enormously profited throughout the period both before and after March
2000.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

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