Days after the arbitration award was announced, Morgan Stanley fired Forte, yet McCoy faced no such internal disciplinary action. Instead, McCoy was able to enter into a separation agreement with the brokerage that includes a cooperation agreement, according to Pearl, allowing him to leave the brokerage industry with a clean U5, the form used to terminate a representative’s registration.
“Morgan Stanley has never owned up to the fact that their termination of Ami Forte is based on nothing in violation of their own internal standards,” said McCoy. “They discriminated against her because she’s a woman, none of this would have happened to her had she been a man.”
Morgan Stanley is seeking payment from Forte to cover part of the Speer estate’s arbitration award. She is currently embroiled in an arbitration case over the firm’s claims, also seeking damages for what she calls wrongful termination.
According to Finra’s BrokerCheck website, Forte’s record as a registered representative is clean, aside from the Speer complaint.
Pearl further argues that Finra’s fine and bar against McCoy is a toothless punishment, as the former branch manager is elderly and infirm.
Pearl indicates that Morgan Stanley may also be funding McCoy’s legal counsel.
Neither Morgan Stanley nor Finra responded to calls for comment as of Friday morning.
In March of this year, Forte joined Pinnacle Investments as chief development officer and a financial advisor.