Ex-UBS Financial Advisor Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Millions From Clients; Broward Man Faces 60 Years In Prison

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Federal authorities said a former UBS financial advisor has pleaded guilty in Miami federal court to defrauding over $5 million from a family who maintained several accounts at UBS.

Officials say German Nino, a resident of Broward County, was a financial advisor working at a branch office of UBS Financial Services Inc. in Miami.

He oversaw and managed UBS investment accounts for various customers, including three victims who were related and who had various investment accounts at UBS, according to authorities.

As the financial advisor, Nino was assigned to oversee and manage the victims' money in the accounts.

Authorities said that from about May 2014 to February 2020, Nino made a total of 62 unauthorized transfers from three UBS accounts belonging to the victims, which totaled $5,833,218.59.

Legal documents said, "To accomplish the wire fraud scheme, Nino made materially false and fraudulent statements to his victims and concealed and omitted material facts including misrepresenting the true performance, balance, and rate of return of the accounts he managed; forging the signature of his clients on documents purporting to authorize transfers out of the accounts; preparing a fraudulent land purchase contract and forging a victim's signature on the land purchase contract to make it appear that the victim was purchasing land in Colombia by using money from the victim's account; removing one of the victim's email from the victim's UBS email account profile so that the victim would not receive email notifications from UBS about unauthorized transfers; and preparing fraudulent UBS account statements and client review statements, which falsely inflated the balance and value of the victims' accounts."

Nino is scheduled for sentencing on June 21, 2022, before U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham.

He faces up to 60 years imprisonment.