Former Brokers Bring $20M Whistleblower Suit Against Morgan Stanley
Jaime Feldman and her husband, James Boland, a couple of ex-Morgan Stanley brokers in the firm's midtown Manhattan branch, have sued Morgan Stanley and the branch manager for $20 million in damages, claiming that they were retaliated against and wrongfully terminated after they blew the whistle on alleged fraudulent activity and securities law violations at the branch. Feldman and Boland were fired in 2011 with Morgan Stanley claiming they did not meet performance requirements. The couple, however, argue that any performances issues were pretext for terminating them after they made a series of allegations against the firm. They allege that the branch had unlicensed trainees making cold calls to prospects with misleading scripts, brokers were changing client risk profiles, and advisers were working from home without proper supervision. According to the complaint, interns and trainees at the Morgan Stanley branch were calling people at large corporations, including Pfizer and Verizon, who were close to retiring and had 401(k) plans with [...]