In Focus
November 14, 2002
That's the number of clients who were the subject of a recently issued New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) disciplinary decision against former Merrill Lynch broker Michael Allan Bressman of New Jersey.
Bressman placed trades in the accounts of 28 customers over a ten year time period without first notifying the customers and obtaining their approval in advance of the trades. That's an offense. Merrill Lynch fired Bressman, and paid $40,000 to settle with two of the twenty-eight customers. To date, there has been no restitution for the other twenty-six customers. They may file arbitration claims against Bressman and Merrill Lynch.
Bressman claimed that the customers had given him "discretionary authority" to do what he did. But the NYSE rejected that defense. Such grants of authority must be in writing and signed by the customer. Nothing of that sort occurred here.
— James J. Eccleston
FinancialCounsel.com
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