Ex-broker stole $1.4M from couple, panel finds

Facing jail time, a former branch manager for Banc of America Investment Services Inc. and A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. owes two former clients $4.5 million after losing an arbitration claim last month. The manager, Brent S. Lemons, was accused of wide-ranging fraudulent activities, including churning and unauthorized trading, selling away and excessive commissions, according to the award, which was decided late last month by a three-person Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel. Mr. Lemons stole money from his clients, Venna and Gerald Stubbs and spent as much as $1.4 million of that money to cover gambling debts, said Mrs. Stubbs’ attorney, Bryan Forman of Tyler Texas, in a statement. Mr. Lemons has more legal problems. On August 20, he pled guilty to two of 19 criminal counts in federal court in Tyler, Texas, according to Mr. Forman’s statement. Also last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Mr. Lemons stole $1.3 million from former clients. Banc of America Investment Services, a unit of Bank of America Corp., fired Mr. Lemons last year. The firms, Banc of America Investment Services of Charlotte, N.C. and A.G. Edwards, now Wachovia LLC of St. Louis, are off the hook in this arbitration claim. Last December, the arbitrators decided to “sever” or separate the claims. Mr. Lemons is solely liable in the matter, according to the award. “I am glad Brent will go to prison — he deserves it,” said Mrs. Stubbs in a statement. “Although I doubt I will ever see a dime from the arbitration award, it is satisfying that the arbitrators found Brent to be a fraud.” The award includes $1.5 million in punitive damages, and $1.2 million in legal fees. In the statement, Mrs. Stubbs also said she doubted whether she could completely trust someone again.