Stifel reps go after Wachovia for seeking restraining order

Four brokers who won a $1.1 million arbitration award against Wachovia Securities LLC last month are asking a federal court to punish the firm for what they say are misrepresentations it made in getting a temporary restraining order against them. Last week, the four reps — Frank “Buddy” Brand, Marvin “Sonny” Slaughter, Stephen Jones and George Stukes — asked a federal judge in South Carolina to confirm the arbitration award and “hold Wachovia fully accountable for the misrepresentations it has made to this court.” In 2008, federal Judge Terry Wooten granted the firm a TRO against the reps based in part on Wachovia's claim that it had a video of the brokers removing documents from the Wachovia branch. But the arbitrators thought differently and ordered the parties to tell Mr. Wooten that the videotape did not support the allegations made by Wachovia. In motion filed with the court last week, the brokers claim that no Wachovia employee or lawyer ever watched the surveillance video, shot by a private investigator. “Wachovia deliberately did not provide a copy of the DVD to the [brokers] at the [TRO] hearing,” the motion said. “In fact, it took multiple requests and approximately two weeks before Wachovia finally provided [the brokers'] counsel with a copy.” All four brokers are legacy A.G. Edwards Inc. brokers in Florence, S.C., who joined Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. in June 2008. Theresa Dougherty, a spokeswoman for Wachovia (now Wells Fargo Advisors LLC), said the firm planned to file a motion by the end of next week to vacate the arbitration ruling.