The Daily News is reporting that New York Attorney General (he's not governor yet) Eliot Spitzer is accusing UBS Financial Services of moving clients into a brokerage program that charged clients fees based on the value of their assets rather than a per-trade fee. Sounds like the sort of program designed to serve hedge funds started getting applied to indivduals, allegedly because UBS created a financial incentive for brokers to move accounts into the program.
The News lists three of the worst abuses/mom-and-pop type investors that Eliot Spitzer likes to be seen defending:
A 91-year-old client who paid $35,000 for four trades over two years. They would have cost her about $2,000 in a traditional brokerage program.
Another client who was charged $24,000 for one transaction.
A couple who were charged more than $23,000 each for two trades, a sum that totaled about 20% of the income from their family farm.
