Former broker hits Wells Fargo Advisors with discrimination claim

A former broker with Wells Fargo Advisors LLC of St. Louis has sued the firm for sex discrimination. Helen Berenyi, a legacy Wachovia Securities LLC broker who worked in the firm’s Charleston, S.C., office, claims she was denied a fair share of client assets when a partnership she had with another rep was dissolved in December 2007. Ms. Berenyi filed her lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in Charleston, claiming discrimination and retaliation. Ms. Berenyi was forced out of Wachovia in August 2008, the suit says. She is now president of Red Triangle LLC, an advisory firm in Charleston. Wachovia Securities this year was renamed Wells Fargo Advisors. Brokers can file discrimination claims in court, rather than arbitration, but they must first get right-to-sue letters from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her suit says Ms. Berenyi received permission to file the court claim. Ms. Berenyi’s attorney, Allan Holmes of Gibbs & Holmes PC in Charleston, did not return calls. In a document attached to the suit, Mr. Holmes said that as of a year ago when she was terminated, Ms. Berenyi was owed another $39 million in client assets in addition to the $13 million she had already received. Teresa Dougherty, spokeswoman for Wells Fargo Advisors, declined to comment.