Finra arbitration panel awards investor $1.3 million from ex-Stifel broker

A Finra arbitration panel has awarded $1.3 million in damages to a Mississippi investor over the handling of her finances by a former broker for Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. In a case filed in August 2012, Tracy Noble Gilbert accused broker Lanis Dale Noble, then with Stifel, of churning and breach of fiduciary duty, among other charges, according to a Finra dispute resolution document obtained by InvestmentNews. The matter involved the use of margin in Ms. Gilbert's account and Mr. Noble's purchases of variable annuities from SunLife and ManuLife, as well as a Friedman Billings Ramsey real estate investment trust. The three-person panel of the Financial Industry Regulation Authority Inc. awarded Ms. Gilbert $1.29 million in compensatory damages and $250,000 in attorneys' fees. It denied punitive damages. Ms. Gilbert had sought $8 million in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages. The arbitration panel chair, Susan F. Drogin, signed the decision March 31. Stifel denied the charges, according to the Finra document. The firm, its lawyers and lawyers for Ms. Gilbert did not respond to requests for comment. Ms. Gilbert is Mr. Noble's former daughter-in-law. Mr. Noble left Stifel in November 2013, when he was working for the firm in Ridgeland, Miss., and is no longer registered with Finra, according to his BrokerCheck report. He began his career with Prudential-Bache Securities in December 1985. He worked in the industry for five different firms over 28 years. Mr. Noble has five disclosures on his BrokerCheck report. Four were customer disputes and one was a criminal case.