Former Salomon Smith Barney brokers Phil Spartis and Amy Elias have ½led an NYSE arbitration claim against their former ½rm and a number of the firm's of½cers and attorneys. They had already countersued Smith Barney after being named in a number of client complaints relating to losses suffered via investments in WorldCom stock.
Now, each is asking for a round number in compensatory, general and punitive damages: $100 million, or the same amount that New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer got from Merrill Lynch to settle conflict-of-interest charges.
The brokers, represented by Jeffrey Liddle of Liddle & Robinson, also name Citigroup Chairman Sanford Weill along with former telecommunications analyst Jack Grubman, former CEO Michael Carpenter, the former Atlanta branch manager, Michael Grace, district head H. Wayne Hutton and several in-house attorneys.
Spartis and Elias claim they were wrongfully ½red in February. They claim that Smith Barney did not adequately represent them in WorldCom-related customer complaints. Spartis was a corporate client director at WorldCom and supervised the exercise of options by WorldCom employees exclusively from 1998 until the time he was ½red from Smith Barney. A Smith Barney spokesperson says the claim is without merit.
