An arbitration panel has ruled that certain comments regarding a broker's termination from Banc of America Investment Services Inc. in 2009 be expunged from his record.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel also awarded the broker, Juan Carlos Carvajal, $90,000 in damages, saying it found Banc of America liable for negligence.
Carvajal said he was hired by Banc of America Investment Services in September 2008 under false pretenses, according to his lawyer, Michael Arias in Florida. Carvajal joined the division just as its parent, Bank of America Corp., was merging with the brokerage Merrill Lynch. Carvajal said he was assured that his job at Banc of America wouldn't be affected by the merger, but that was not the case, Arias said.
In a ruling dated May 31, a three-person Finra panel in Miami ruled that Carvajal's record should be expunged of language that said he was terminated because of "management's loss of confidence" in him. That will be replaced with an explanation that his position was eliminated due to a merger.
