Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith has been censured and fined $1 million for its failure to arbitrate disputes with its employees over retention bonuses.

The fine was part of a settlement with Merrill Lynch announced by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on Jan 25. A full-service broker-dealer with its principal offices located in New York, Merrill Lynch has been a FINRA member firm since 1937. The firm employs over 31,000 registered brokers and maintains over 1,200 branch offices.

FINRA said Merrill Lynch im...

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Doug Mirabelli, a former catcher for the Boston Red Sox, was awarded more than $1.2 million in arbitration against brokerage firm Merrill Lynch after claiming that the firm sank his money in inappropriate investments and made unsuitable recommendations, according to a Jan. 23 report by Reuters.

On Jan. 13, an arbitration panel of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ruled that Merrill L...

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An analysis by The New York Times of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement actions during the past 15 years has found that Wall Street firms have broken antifraud laws they had pledged not to breach in at least 51 cases.

These cases involved 19 different firms, according to a report that appeared in the newspaper on Nov 7.

Citigroup’s recent attempt to settle civil charges that it had defrauded custo...

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Bank of America subsidiary Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. has been fined $1 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, for failure to supervise one of its stockbrokers at its branch office in San Antonio, Texas. FINRA announced the fine on Oct. 4.

Bruce Edward Hammonds, a registered representative with the firm, used a Merrill Lynch account to operate a Ponzi scheme, luring 11 people to invest more than $1 million in B&J Partnershi...

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A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Arbitration Panel in the matter of Fahs v Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith, Inc., FINRA-DR Arbitration No. 09-06623 awarded a Connecticut man one hundred percent (100%) of his net out-of-pocket compensatory losses, plus interest at the rate of 6% per annum over a period of approximately three years, together with attorney’s fees of $30,000.

The claim relates to the conduct of his former stock broker, Read Full Article