Award Against Merrill Lynch Involving Broker Phil Scott

According to the Investment News, clients of a prominent Bank of America Merrill Lynch have won an $880,000 arbitration award against the firm.

Phil Scott of the firm’s Bellevue, Wash., office, was this year ranked No. 30 on the Barron’s list of top advisers, with $1.8 billion under management. He ranks No. 1 on the list for the state of Washington. The arbitration award, decided June 22, was recently made available by Finra.

The clients, Harriet Baker, her son John Baker and his wife Natalie Baker, all of New York state, were 100% invested in stocks through the financial crisis. Such an allocation can be unsuitable, particularly for retired investors.

Harriett Baker was in her late 80s when she started doing business with Mr. Scott in 2005.  Mr. Scott runs more than $1 billion of client money in a dividend growth strategy, called the Phil Scott Income Portfolio.

The award was about half of the $1.7 million in compensatory damages the Bakers demanded.  The panel of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. arbitrators denied the Bakers’ request for punitive damages.

Aside from the arbitration award from last month, Mr. Scott has three other pending arbitrations, according to disclosures he made on his Finra BrokerCheck report. One case was filed in April of this year, and two others were filed last summer.

The customers allege misrepresentations and unsuitable stock investments from 2007 through 2009, according to the report.

In addition, Mr. Scott’s disciplinary record shows two other client complaints from 2001 and 2008 that Merrill claimed were without merit. No further action was taken by the customers in these cases.

If you have questions about the recent award against Merrill Lynch or about your investments with the firm, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.

For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://whitesecuritieslaw.com.