NEW YORK (Reuters) – Merrill Lynch’s battle to void a $10 million arbitration ruling suffered a setback this week after a new court filing raised questions about its claims that a panel member had not disclosed her potential conflicts.

The brokerage giant, which Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) agreed to acquire in 2008, is challenging an April 3 arbitration ruling that awarded two brokers, Tamara Smolchek and Meri Ramazio, more than $10 million in damages stemming from unpaid compensation claims. But now, one of its key arguments in a high profile case that could affect hundreds of ex-Merrill brokers – that the arbitration panel’s chairwoman was biased – may fail because of the firm’s own revelations.

Merrill alleged that the panel’s chairwoman, Bonnie Pearce, did not properly disclose that she was married to a lawyer, Robert Pearce, who has represented clients against Merrill at least five times and won a $1.3 million award against the brokerage in 2003.

But late Wednesday afternoon, the firm filed a motion that revealed that a Merrill lawyer had in fact researched the husband, Robert Pearce, and his prior award against Merrill, before the start of arbitration hearings.

Merrill’s attorney in the Smolchek case, Reed Smith LLP’s Douglas Spaulding, late last week found five pages printed from Robert Pearce’s website eight days before the first hearing, which was January 23. The discovery was revealed in a Wednesday filing written by Miami lawyer Peter Homer, whom Merrill hired on January 26 to represent it after the Smolchek hearings began.

Spaulding also found three more pages that had been printed two days before hearings and a copy of a 2003 arbitration award where Merrill was ordered to pay Pearce’s clients $1.3 million in damages over misleading research.

It is a setback for Merrill, which claimed on multiple occasions it was unaware of Pearce’s relationship or the kind of cases her husband pursued until after the Smolchek hearings had begun.

NEW YORK, May 25 (Reuters) – Merrill Lynch’s battle to void a $10 million arbitration ruling suffered a setback this week after a new court filing raised questions about its claims that a panel member had not disclosed her potential conflicts.

The brokerage giant, which Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) agreed to acquire in 2008, is challenging an April 3 arbitration ruling that awarded two brokers, Tamara Smolchek and Meri Ramazio, more than $10 million in damages stemming from unpaid compensation claims. [ID:nL2E8F48VM] But now, one of its key arguments in a high profile case that could affect hundreds of ex-Merrill brokers – that the arbitration panel’s chairwoman was biased - may fail because of the firm’s own revelations.

Merrill alleged that the panel’s chairwoman, Bonnie Pearce, did not properly disclose that she was married to a lawyer, Robert Pearce, who has represented clients against Merrill at least five times and won a $1.3 million award against the brokerage in 2003.

But late Wednesday afternoon, the firm filed a motion that revealed that a Merrill lawyer had in fact researched the husband, Robert Pearce, and his prior award against Merrill, before the start of arbitration hearings.

Merrill’s attorney in the Smolchek case, Reed Smith LLP’s Douglas Spaulding, late last week found five pages printed from Robert Pearce’s website eight days before the first hearing, which was Jan. 23. The discovery was revealed in a Wednesday filing written by Miami lawyer Peter Homer, whom Merrill hired on Jan. 26 to represent it after the Smolchek hearings began.

Spaulding also found three more pages that had been printed two days before hearings and a copy of a 2003 arbitration award where Merrill was ordered to pay Pearce’s clients $1.3 million in damages over misleading research.

It is a setback for Merrill, which claimed on multiple occasions it was unaware of Pearce’s relationship or the kind of cases her husband pursued until after the Smolchek hearings had begun.

May 24 (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley will adjust thousands of trades to ensure outstanding limit orders to sell will be filled at no more than $42.99 a share for Facebook stock from last Friday’s botched initial public offering, the firm told its brokers on Thursday, according to several who listened to the call.

Morgan Stanley said that limit orders to sell shares at $43 or higher that have not yet been processed because of glitches at Nasdaq will be settled over the next few days at less than $43. Fewer than one million shares traded in a two-minute period on the opening day above $43. Shares reached a high of $45.

Limit orders allow investors to buy or sell shares at a preset price. In the case of the newly issued Facebook shares traded last Friday, Morgan Stanley’s adjustment applies only to sell orders.

Andy Saperstein, head of wealth management at Morgan Stanley’s Smith Barney unit, told advisers the adjustments will likely begin on Friday, according to five advisers who listened to the call.

According to several of the advisers, Saperstein said that the company has been manually reviewing each trade and the time it was executed, and that he stressed that the company is putting the clients’ interests first.

Saperstein took no questions during the call, which started at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) and lasted about ten minutes, according to two advisers. He made no apology, and told brokers to follow procedure and go directly to their service manager if they had any outstanding issues, advisers told Reuters.

Another adviser who listened to the call said that Saperstein said that all clients and brokers who had expressed interest in Facebook shares were sent the amended prospectus the company filed on May 9. The adviser did not want to be named because she was not permitted to speak to the press.

NEW YORK, May 23 (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley told brokers on Wednesday it is reviewing every Facebook Inc trade and will make price adjustments for retail customers who paid too much during the social network company’s debut last week, according to an internal memo.

Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of Facebook’s initial public offering on Friday, in the memo also said “many” of the first-day trades have now been processed and are appearing in client accounts. The company did not specify how much it expected to pay in total price adjustments.

“All orders are currently being reviewed for best execution pricing,” the memo, which was obtained by Reuters, said. “We expect there will be a number of price adjustments. The largest adjustments will be processed first over the next several days and the remaining adjustments will be completed as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.”

A “very limited number of orders” are still pending, but Morgan Stanley told its more than 17,000 brokers that it expects to have remaining orders resolved and booked Wednesday.

Morgan Stanley confirmed the contents of the memo but declined to elaborate.

Facebook’s highly anticipated market debut Friday was beset by trading glitches on the Nasdaq s tock market. T he opening of trading in the social networking company’s new shares was delayed by about 30 minutes. Shares priced by underwriters at $38 briefly rose to $45 in early trading but then fell and ended on Friday little changed.

A significant number of investors at Morgan Stanley and other brokerages were left in limbo – some as late as Tuesday - with trade orders that were not processed.

NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) – A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel ordered investment banking boutique Advanced Equities Inc to pay $4.5 million in damages and other costs stemming from a breach-of-contract claims filed by a former employee, John Galinsky.

The ruling was made public on Monday.

Galinsky in January 2010 asked arbitrators for $100 million in actual damages and $40 million in punitive damages over what he said was the firm’s failure to pay certain commissions for his efforts raising capital for clients such as Arbinet, Bloom Energy, Force10 Networks, Infinera Corp, Motricity Inc and Peregrine Semiconductor.

Galinsky also claimed fraudulent inducement, unjust enrichment, retaliatory discharge and breach of contract.

The FINRA panel awarded Galinsky $3.47 million in actual damages as well as $347,000 in interest, $500,000 in punitive damages and $211,314 in other trial-related costs.

The punitive damages were awarded because Advanced Equities “exhibited a reckless disregard for the warrant rights of the broker and breached their fiduciary duties to the broker,” the panel said in its ruling.

The Chicago-based investment bank, which makes late-stage venture capital investments in technology companies, was also ordered to pay FINRA $61,650 in session fees for 51 pre-hearing and hearing sessions spanning from June 2010 to April 2012.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A lot of loyal Facebook fans and occasional investors are discovering a hard truth this week: Money and connections talk, especially when it comes to a hot deal handled by Wall Street.

The scramble for shares in what is one of largest initial public offerings in U.S. history quickly divided the haves from the have-nots on Thursday. Those with big brokerage accounts and a long history as customers of Wall Street firms likely got at least part of their orders for Facebook shares filled, but would-be buyers who had no such ties were lucky to get any.

At stake may well be the chance to cash in on a big pop in the shares — some in the market expect a gain of 50 percent or more — when they start trading on Friday.

“This is worse than not scoring an invitation to the best party in high school,” said Fran Carpentier, 57, a publishing and marketing consultant in New York City who wanted to get in on the social media company’s IPO but could not figure out how.

Facebook raised about $16 billion (10 billion pounds) on Thursday by selling roughly 421 million shares at $38 each. That is approximately half a share for each of its 900 million active monthly users.

It may end up raising even more, bringing the total to $18.4 billion, if an option for underwriters is exercised.

Demand for the long-awaited deal has been surging, helped by wall-to-wall media coverage. Orders for Facebook shares outweigh the supply by a ratio of more than 20 to 1, according to traders’ estimates.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A lot of loyal Facebook fans and occasional investors are discovering a hard truth this week: Money and connections talk, especially when it comes to a deal handled by Wall Street.

The scramble for shares in what is one of largest initial public offerings in U.S. history quickly divided the haves from the have-nots on Thursday. Those with big brokerage accounts and a long history as customers of Wall Street firms likely got at least part of their orders for Facebook shares filled, but would-be buyers who had no such ties were lucky to get any.

“This is worse than not scoring an invitation to the best party in high school,” said Fran Carpentier, 57, a publishing and marketing consultant in New York City who wanted to get in on the social media company’s IPO but could not figure out how.

Facebook raised about $16 billion on Thursday by selling roughly 421 million shares at $38 each. That is approximately half a share for each of its 900 million active monthly users.

Demand for the long-awaited deal, meanwhile, has been surging, helped by wall-to-wall media coverage. Orders for Facebook shares outweigh the supply by a ratio of more than 20 to 1, according to traders’ estimates.

Aside from wanting the cachet of owning the next big thing, investors are eager to buy something that may deliver big, even astronomical returns — a rare opportunity in today’s low-yield and turbulent markets. IPOs often offer an early pop, even if the shares stumble later, and Facebook is seen initially climbing further than most.

Some analysts expect Facebook shares to rise by as much as 50 percent, or even more on the first day.

NEW YORK, May 17 (Reuters) – A lot of loyal Facebook fans and occasional investors are discovering a hard truth this week: Money and connections talk, especially when it comes to a deal handled by Wall Street.

The scramble for shares in what is one of largest initial public offerings in U.S. history quickly divided the haves from the have-nots on Thursday. Those with big brokerage accounts and a long history as customers of Wall Street firms likely got at least part of their orders for Facebook shares filled, but would-be buyers who had no such ties were lucky to get any.

“This is worse than not scoring an invitation to the best party in high school,” said Fran Carpentier, 57, a publishing and marketing consultant in New York City who wanted to get in on the social media company’s IPO but could not figure out how.

Facebook raised about $16 billion on Thursday by selling roughly 421 million shares at $38 each. That is approximately half a share for each of its 900 million active monthly users.

Demand for the long-awaited deal, meanwhile, has been surging, helped by wall-to-wall media coverage. Orders for Facebook shares outweigh the supply by a ratio of more than 20 to 1, according to traders’ estimates.

Aside from wanting the cachet of owning the next big thing, investors are eager to buy something that may deliver big, even astronomical returns — a rare opportunity in today’s low-yield and turbulent markets. IPOs often offer an early pop, even if the shares stumble later, and Facebook is seen initially climbing further than most.

Some analysts expect Facebook shares to rise by as much as 50 percent, or even more on the first day.

NEW YORK, May 10 (Reuters) – LPL Investment Holdings , the largest U.S. independent brokerage, said it will launch an investment advisory business it hopes will capture some of wealth spread out among millions of middle class Americans.

LPL’s new venture is in the early stages of development, but the Boston-based company says it will hire and train a network of self-employed advisers to offer investment advice to mass market consumers, defined by Cerulli Associates as those with less than $100,000 to invest.

That group represents an estimated 70 percent of Americans with a collective $1.65 trillion in assets, according to Cerulli, a research and consulting firm.

Numerous brokerages and investment advisers already provide these less-wealthy Americans with varying degrees of service.

LPL contends this group is still not adequately served, and its move suggests increasing competition for that group of investors. It is unclear how profitable these ventures will be, however, considering the costs of training and personal service, and the limited fees that can be charged on smaller accounts.

“We found that 70 percent of this market wanted the help of an adviser, but only 25 percent have ever had access to that help because they can’t find people to serve their needs,” said Esther Stearns, a veteran LPL executive who will lead the new venture, citing internal research. “There’s no shortage of need and a lot of opportunity.”

The most recent Federal Reserve survey of consumer finances found that 38 percent of Americans consulted with a broker, banker or other financial adviser when making investments.

May 9 (Reuters) – Regional brokerage Stifel Financial Corp said first-quarter earnings rose 11 percent as a rebound in the markets and improvement in the U.S. economy bolstered brokerage, investment banking and bond-trading results.

The St. Louis-based company on Wednesday said net income in the quarter rose to $34.8 million, or 55 cents a share, compared with $31.4 million, or 50 cents, a year earlier. Analysts, on average, had expected earnings per share of 54 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimates.

Quarterly net revenue rose 9 percent to $400.3 million, reflecting stronger equity markets, improving investor sentiment and a greater appetite for risk among investors.

It was the company’s second-best quarter ever in terms of revenue and profit, but Stifel Chief Executive Ronald Kruszewski was bearish in his outlook.

“Outside of a major event or catalyst to move the markets, we remain cautious on the outlook for the remainder of the year,” he said in a statement.

Revenue from Stifel’s retail brokerage arm rose 4 percent to $248 million on higher interest income, management fees and principal trading revenue, though commissions on customer trades fell. The ranks of Stifel financial advisers rose by 66 to 2,013 from the year-ago period, while client assets increased 10 percent to $127 billion.

Institutional brokerage and investment banking income rose 17 percent to $149 million largely from increased capital raising and advisory fees, as well as from bond trading.