JPMorgan has filed a motion to overturn a Wall Street regulator’s $4.25 million award to a broker who claims he was wrongly fired for ordering a deli platter on the company dime – a case that’s prompted other banks to try to crack down on jumbo judgements.
In a late Monday filing in a California federal court, JPMorgan took aim at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, arguing longtime wealth adviser Brent Bodner took advantage of the regulator’s rules to secure an exorbitant payout over the spendy salami incident.
“FINRA exists to promote trust and confidence in the securities industry,” but its award to Bodner “punished” JPMorgan “for truthfully advising the investing community about Bodner’s misconduct, while rewarding a wrongdoer,” the bank said, adding that it was a “lawless award.”
Big banks have been eager to rein in the regulator’s ability to award massive punitive sums — especially after it handed out several multimillion-dollar rewards, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Just this year, appeals courts upheld a $133 million award against Stifel Financial and a $92 million one against UBS that were awarded by FINRA – a non-governmental industry watchdog that rules on disputes among advisers, brokers, investors and institutions.
In March, FINRA asked for public comment on its methods for deciding arbitration cases. Financial powerhouses like Charles Schwab and LPL Financial, as well as Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm representing Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, quickly chimed in, according to the Journal.
The financial watchdog sides with institutions the majority of the time, with only 3% of all cases since 1989 resulting in punitive awards, according to its own data.
JPMorgan fired Bodner in May 2024 over a catered gathering he hosted at his Beverly Hills, Calif., home during Super Bowl weekend, saying he improperly used company money to pay for a $642.50 deli platter.
Bodner’s lawyer has argued that JPMorgan mischaracterized the gathering as a “Super Bowl party” when it was actually a pre-approved business meeting at his home involving a client and a prospective client.
FINRA awarded Bodner the eye-popping sum and recommended that his termination record be changed from “for cause” to “voluntary.”
JPMorgan is looking to change the official reason for the firing back — as banks rail against the regulator’s requirement that it provide a reason for employee termination on records that are often made public.
In its filing, JPMorgan argued Bodner only filed his accusations of defamation and wrongful termination because he saw the reason the bank listed his termination as “for cause” instead of “voluntary.”
The bank said it “accurately recorded the reason for Bodner’s termination” as violation of company policy, and Bodner “responded by doing what has unfortunately become all too common for FINRA-affiliated employees unwilling to accept the consequences of their own misconduct.”
Meanwhile, Bodner’s lawyer, Marc Rosen, has also criticized the financial authority for requiring employees to enter into arbitration for non-securities matters, and for allowing banks to take over former employees’ clients during such disputes.
“Pretextual terminations that tarnish careers of honest employees is never permissible,” Rosen told The Post in a statement.
“The Arbitrators saw and heard all of the evidence,” Rosen said, adding that he plans to defend his client against JPMorgan’s new filing and file their own motion to confirm the award.
