Morgan Stanley has been ordered to pay $147,000 to an ex-broker who claimed the firm denied her the right to run for Congress in 2022 as a representative from Florida.
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel on Monday issued the award to Deborah Adeimy of West Palm Beach. The award is a wee fraction of the $11 million Adeimy sought in compensatory damages ($2.9 million) and punitive damages ($8.1 million). The panel turned down the full amount of punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
Both Morgan Stanley and Adeimy’s attorney, V. Michael Arias, declined to comment.
In the claim that was filed in July 2022, Adeimy, a 33-year veteran of the industry who had been with Morgan Stanley from May 2018 to November 2021, accused the firm of “breach of employment agreement, breach of contract, breach of equitable and just principles of trade, tortious interference with advantageous business relationships, breach of fiduciary duties, wrongful (constructive) termination, and inequitable treatment.”
Morgan Stanley, she alleged, blocked her from seeking a bid for a House of Representatives seat in Florida’s 22nd District while she was employed with the firm. A year after she left, Adeimy made a bid for the seat and lost in the Republican primary by a slim margin to Dan Franzese. She joined J.P. Morgan in November 2022 and left a year later. She has since not been registered in the industry.
According to Ballotpedia, she will once again challenge the Democratic incumbent Lois Frankel for the seat, which encompasses the coastline of Broward County and southern Palm Beach County.
Adeimy began her career in 1990 with Paine Webber. She has worked at several firms, including Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets and Wells Fargo. She twice worked for Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, according to BrokerCheck.