"There has been a tremendous frustration," said Richard Roth, a New York lawyer who represents brokers in regulatory disputes. "One day everyone woke up, and their entire histories were there."

Finra has not yet responded to the lawsuit, and a spokeswoman for the regulator declined to comment. Lawyers say Finra will probably try to get the case dismissed.

In an e-mail, Santos-Buch declined to discuss his case and referred Reuters to his lawyer for comment for this story.

Santos-Buch also accused Thomson Reuters Corp of violating his privacy. He pointed to a copy of the 1997 Finra disciplinary report that is publicly available on Compliance Complete, a Thomson Reuters publication.

A Thomson Reuters spokesman said the company published historical information about the securities industry that is available on Finra's Web site. He declined to comment further.

Employment Woes

Santos-Buch, now 51, describes a long streak of employment opportunities that he says fell through because of Finra's disclosures. In 2006, for example, a life insurance company withdrew a job offer at the last minute.

"I have been literally excused from interviews, and one occasion thrown out of an office by a prospective employer," Santos-Buch says in a court affidavit.

Santos-Buch eventually went back to school to learn the solar energy business, but says that even there the Finra citations hurt his earnings ability.

He says he has been trying for years to get Finra to remove the disclosures about him.