Bank's issues with acquisition linger

A Sarasota attorney won a major battle in what's now a four-year deferred compensation dispute between Bank of America and brokers with Merrill Lynch, which BofA bought for $50 billion in 2008.

Moreover, the bank and Merrill Lynch received a scathing rebuke in the case from a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel. The panel wrote that Merrill Lynch, “directly and indirectly through senior management ... intentionally, willfully and deliberately engaged in a systematic and systemic fraudulent scheme to deprive” brokers of deferred compensation. The decision, an arbitration award, was handed down April 3.

The FINRA panel ruled that Merrill Lynch, through BofA, must pay two West Palm Beach brokers $10.2 million in punitive damages. “I think it was a well-reasoned decision by a seasoned group of arbitrators,” says Sarasota attorney Michael Taaffe, who represented the brokers.