Two former brokers at Morgan Stanley, Jaime Feldman and James Boland (a husband and wife) were terminated in 2011 for “not meeting performance requirements.”But Feldman and Boland are now suing the firm and a branch manager in a New York midtown office for $20 million, alleging they were wrongfully terminated after blowing the whistle on fraudulent activity and violations of securities laws. Their complaint alleges that interns and trainees in the office were cold-calling employees at Pfizer and Verizon who were near retirement to solicit them to roll over their account to Morgan Stanley. They used misleading scripts to promise them a 15% annual return, and it was also alleged advisers were working from home without proper supervision. Once the accounts were rolled over, the firm changed client’s risk profiles to allow for investments in riskier closed-end funds.
According to the complaint, “This action arises out of defendant’s termination of the employment of plaintiffs because of their objections to and complaints about fraudulent activity and violations of the securities laws at the Morgan Stanley branch office. Morgan Stanley terminated the employment of plaintiffs for their ‘whistle-blowing’ activities.” Ms. Feldmann reported her complaints to the branch manager, David Turetzky, who told her to leave his office and then fired her the next month. The two then filed a complaint with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration in February 2012. This is the second time an employee in the midtown Manhattan branch sued the firm and Mr. Turetzky. The case settled for an undisclosed amount.
If you invested money with Morgan Stanley, you may be able to bring a claim against them in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration forum. We sue firms such as Morgan Stanley for breaching securities rules and regulations. Please call our Chicago-based law firm at 312-332-4200 to speak to one of our attorneys. The call is free and we take cases on a contingency fee basis.
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