Former J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC broker wins expungement after FINRA arbitration

Aug. 21, 2015 - PRLog -- Attorney Brittany Weiner, a partner of the law firm Imbesi Law P.C., represented the victorious former FINRA associated person that filed a claim for arbitration requesting expungement on her Form U5.  After a five-day hearing, a FINRA arbitration panel issued an award granting the firm's client (“Claimant”) expungement on her Form U5.

J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC (“J.P. Morgan”) was named as the only Respondent in the FINRA arbitration claim filed by Claimant, which alleged that J.P. Morgan falsely accused Claimant of misconduct which resulted in the termination of her license registration with FINRA.  According to Claimant’s attorneys, J.P. Morgan, represented by Lawrence Sandak, a partner of the law firm Proskauer Rose LLP, refused to resolve the claim even after Claimant offered to not demand any monetary compensation and only requested amended words on her Form U5.

“J.P. Morgan’s inability to concede it made a mistake resulted in the company forcing its former employee to incur the expense of approximately two (2) years of litigation,” said attorney Vincent Imbesi who assisted Ms. Weiner in the representation of Claimant.  “Legal counsel for J.P. Morgan insisted its client did nothing wrong despite the obvious evidence to the contrary, which resulted in the prolonged public misrepresentation regarding Claimant’s separation of her employment with J.P. Morgan,” Mr. Imbesi added.

The FINRA arbitration panel ruled that Claimant’s reason for termination should be amended to include language that J.P. Morgan “could not conclusively establish whether the employee had falsely reported that a charge for $300 to her credit card was not made by her.”  The award also recommended that the answer to Question 7(F)(2) on Claimant’s Form U5 be changed from “yes” to “no.”

The award also recommended that Claimant’s Termination Disclosure Page be deleted in its entirety.  “The fact that J.P. Morgan refused to resolve the claim even after Claimant offered to accept no money, just a change of wording, was a huge mistake by J.P. Morgan, which most likely resulted in payment of legal fees and FINRA arbitration costs that could have been avoided,” Mr. Imbesi commented.   The FINRA arbitration panel assessed 100% of the FINRA fees against J.P. Morgan, which included payment for five (5) hearing days.

According to Mr. Imbesi, the hearing revealed that employees in J.P. Morgan’s investigative division, Global Security and Investigation (GS&I) failed to conduct a proper investigation of Claimant’s alleged conduct, which resulted in the false accusations made against Claimant.  “The lack of oversight of a novice investigator was the catalyst of false allegation,” Mr. Imbesi said.  He added that many FINRA brokers cannot afford the lengthy and expensive process to obtain expungement on a Form U5.

“In-house legal counsel for J.P. Morgan could have corrected the mistake within thirty (30) days after Claimant ended her employment but incorrectly concluded Claimant’s actions were misconduct. The inability to remain objective caused J.P. Morgan to incur costs it could have avoided and prolonged the public misrepresentation about a former employee,” Mr. Imbesi claimed.  “I hope this victory causes J.P. Morgan to change its review process because individual employees, some of whom lack money to challenge false accusations, can be severely damaged,” Mr. Imbesi concluded.

All three arbitrators concurred with the decision.  A copy of the decision can be obtained by accessing FINRA's website.

Attorneys Brittany Weiner (lead counsel) and Steven Fingerhut and Vincent Imbesi of Imbesi Law P.C. represented Claimant.

Attorneys Lawrence Sandak and David Reid of Proskauer Rose LLP represented J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC.

Brittany Weiner, a partner of Imbesi Law P.C., represents both customers and brokers in FINRA arbitration, including issues involving expungement of inaccurate information maintained in the CRD and on Form U5s. In some jurisdictions, this press release could be deemed as Attorney Advertising.  Prior results to not guarantee future success.