Galvin sues UBS over hedge fund perks

Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin yesterday accused the securities division of financial giant UBS of "dishonest and unethical business activities" for lavishing perks on hedge fund managers in order to get their lucrative trading business.

In an administrative complaint filed yesterday, Galvin said that UBS Securities LLC gave the investment managers office space at discounted rents, a personal line of credit, tickets to sporting events, and other perks without either party disclosing the relationship to the hedge funds' clients.

The complaint said UBS created potential conflicts of interest and violated a number of securities regulations. UBS said it is reviewing Galvin's filing and declined to comment.

Galvin's complaint details the extent to which large securities operations could go to secure business from the burgeoning hedge fund industry. Hedge funds are lightly regulated investment pools that are free to deploy a variety of financial strategies, including making large and risky bets on market directions and frequent trading.

For example, Galvin said, UBS gave office space to hedge funds at its expensive International Place offices at discounts of as much as $40,000 a year. And hedge fund managers who failed to produce for UBS ran the risk of being thrown out , according to the suit.

"Either we kick them out now or give them six to nine months and tell [them] we need to try to get more revenues," Michael Torrisi , executive director of UBS Prime Brokerage Services, wrote in an internal e-mail about a hedge fund tenant that was receiving the discounted rent, according to the lawsuit.

Torrisi declined to comment through his attorney, Paul Mastrocola.

In a separate e-mail also excerpted in Galvin's suit, hedge fund managers were very "much aware of the implied expectation of continued growth of their existing and new [business] with UBS," in exchange for the perks they got, another UBS employee wrote.

The Galvin suit does not, however, detail how much trading business the hedge funds directed to UBS in exchange for the benefits.

But the lawsuit by the secretary of state, the chief securities regulator in Massachusetts, is the latest salvo Galvin has fired at the investment industry, particularly hedge funds. In February , Galvin filed a civil complaint against hedge fund Bulldog Investors , alleging that firm's website ran afoul of securities laws by offering investments without appropriate disclosures.

In January, he launched an investigation of UBS's so-called hedge fund hotel in Boston, so dubbed because several funds rent space within the offices of larger investment banking firms that they do business with.

The result is a suit that claimed the business arrangements between UBS and its hedge fund tenants were based on "implicit and sometimes explicit quid pro quos."

Other alleged perks included a $2.8 million line of credit in April 2006 that UBS extended to Edward Shapiro , a principal at hedge fund Par Capital Management , one of its tenants. The lawsuit alleges that the loan was given after Paul Reeder , another Par principal, asked for a $7 million line from UBS in December 2005 "to pay for certain personal liabilities."

Reeder declined to comment. Shapiro referred questions to Par Capital general counsel Gina DiMento, who was unavailable for comment.

Besides the loan, cheap rents were allegedly a big perk. In 2004 , UBS's rent discount to 16 hedge funds totaled $431,000, and $441,940 last year for 19 funds, according to the suit. The company also allegedly footed the bill for office furniture, a receptionist, Internet access, a stocked pantry, breakfast daily, and lunch on Fridays for its hedge fund tenants.

Entertainment was another lure. The suit said Torrisi charged thousands of dollars worth of meals and sports tickets to his corporate credit card for hedge fund tenants. Last May, Galvin said, Torrisi charged more than $1,300 worth of food at Fenway Park to his corporate card during a game between the Red Sox and New York Yankees . Employees of three hedge fund tenants were listed on his expense reports as being among the guests, the suit said.

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.