Affinity Investment Services LLC has been ordered by a Finra arbitration panel to pay $925,000 to a former broker who alleged she was fired after complaining about wrongdoing at the firm.
Broker Michelle Ford, an Australian citizen, also alleged that Affinity officials conspired to defeat her attempts to obtain a green card, forcing her to leave the country.
In an award issued this month, a
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. arbitration panel gave Ms. Ford $825,000 in compensatory damages and another $100,000 as a sanction for discovery abuse by Affinity, a unit of Affinity Federal Credit Union.
The broker complained to Affinity management in 2005 and 2006 about what she thought were prohibited transactions in Affinity's 401(k) plan and improper sales of annuities, said Jason Archinaco, Ms. Ford's attorney and a member of Pribanic Pribanic + Archinaco LLC.
Affinity took a number of steps against Ms. Ford in retaliation, Mr. Archinaco said, and finally fired her in February 2007,
In one instance, in December 2006, Affinity was notified that Ms. Ford's request for permanent resident, or “green card” status, was about to be granted, he said. But the company decided not to respond to questions from the Labor Department that would have sped up the process.
“They brought in an immigration lawyer, who said they could make [the green card application] die by inaction,” Mr. Archinaco said.
As a result, Ms. Ford had to return to Australia, he said.
Ms. Ford subsequently returned to the U.S., and now works as a registered representative with Questar Capital Corp.
The arbitration panel also ordered that negative information on Ms. Ford's U-5 termination form be removed. Affinity had claimed that Ms. Ford was terminated while under internal review for wrongdoing.
The sanctions against Affinity for discovery abuse involved “classic shenanigans” like hiding documents or producing them “late at night the day before the next day's hearings,” Mr. Archinaco said.
"Affinity is confident that it acted lawfully and appropriately in its treatment of Ms. Ford," said Elizabeth McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for Affinity, in a statement.
The firm is "reviewing its legal options with regard to the award," she said.
