David Hirsch: Options Overlay Complaints Against UBS Advisor

Multiple investor complaints against Chicago financial advisor David Hirsch (CRD# 1341777) allege that he misrepresented and unsuitably recommended an options overlay strategy. Records maintained by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority indicate that he is currently a broker and an investment advisor with UBS Financial Services.

Mr. Hirsch’s BrokerCheck report discloses several investor complaints. The most recent, filed in December 2022, alleges that as a representative of UBS Financial Services, he misrepresented material facts and unsuitably recommended the customer invest in and hold an options overlay strategy. The pending complaint alleges damages of $1,600,000. In a statement included with the complaint’s disclosure, Mr. Hirsch asserted that the losses “were created as a result of severe market conditions.”

An earlier investor complaint, filed in 2020, similarly alleged misrepresentation and unsuitability in connection with recommendations to invest in and hold an options overlay strategy while he was at UBS Financial Services. In 2021 the complaint reached a settlement of $2,250,000.

A third investor complaint, filed in 2020, detailed the same allegations concerning an options overlay strategy, reaching a settlement of $225,000. A fourth complaint, also filed in 2020, alleged misrepresentation and suitability connected to an options overlay strategy, settling in 2021 for $110,000.

“In a statement included with the three settled complaints’ disclosures, Mr. Hirsch wrote that the losses were the result of adverse market conditions. “[I]n a separately managed account, the client used with the same manager quite successfully at another investment company,” he continued. “UBS decided to settle the matter for a small fraction of the claim and to avoid cost to litigate.”

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, David Hirsch holds 37 years of securities industry experience. Based in Chicago, Illinois, he has been a broker and an investment advisor with UBS Financial Services since 2016. His past registrations include Credit Suisse Securities (2008-2016), Citigroup Global Markets (1993-2008), and Lehman Brothers (1985-1993). His credentials include the passage of five securities industry qualifying exams: the General Securities Representative Examination, or Series 7; the National Commodity Futures Examination, or Series 3; the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, or Series 63; and the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination, or Series 65. He currently holds 27 state licenses. (Information current as of January 29, 2023.)

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