On May 4, 2011, the SEC filed a complaint against UBS Financial Services Inc. According to the SEC: "This case involves various fraudulent bidding practices by UBS, a registered broker-dealer, involving the temporary investment of proceeds from the sale of tax-exempt municipal securities in certain reinvestment products by state and local governmental entities in the United States ..."

On May 4, 2011, the SEC issued a litigation release announcing that it charged UBS Financial Services Inc. "with fraudulently rigging at least 100 municipal bond reinvestment transactions in 36 states and generating millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains." Further, according to the SEC: "To settle the SEC's charges, UBS has agreed to pay $47.2 million that will be returned to the affected municipalities. UBS and its affiliates also agreed to pay $113 million to settle parallel charges brought by other federal and state authorities."

On May 6, 2011, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey approved the settlement between the SEC and UBS Financial Services Inc. in this case. According to the settlement, without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC's complaint, UBS has consented to the entry of a final judgment enjoining it from future violations of Section 15(c) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. UBS Financial Services Inc. has also agreed to pay a penalty of $32.5 million and disgorgement of $9,606,543 with prejudgment interest of $5,100,637. The settlement is subject to court approval.