Goldman Sachs Ordered to Pay Broker $1 Million, Dallas Lawyer Rogge Dunn Wins Arbitration Award From Regulatory Panel

LOS ANGELES – A panel of securities industry arbitrators has ordered investment banking giant Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) to pay one of its former brokers $1 million following an investigation into the company’s compensation system.

Greg Fullmer, 49, of Los Angeles, worked for Goldman Sachs for 11 years until the company fired him in 2004, according to the claim filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in Los Angeles. During Mr. Fullmer’s employment, Goldman Sachs restructured its compensation plan for brokers, and began withholding a portion of brokers’ commissions and converting them to restricted stock accounts that would pay out over time. Doing so saved the company approximately $250 million annually.

But when Goldman Sachs fired Mr. Fullmer, the claim states, it refused to pay him that money, saying he had forfeited his pay by soliciting firm employees to work elsewhere. In the decision handed down late last night, the FINRA panel ordered the company to pay Mr. Fullmer $1 million.

“This ruling fully vindicates Mr. Fullmer and restores his hard-earned good reputation,” says attorney Rogge Dunn of Clouse Dunn Khoshbin LLP in Dallas, who represents Mr. Fullmer. “Obviously, he earned these commissions, and this award recognizes that.”

Mr. Dunn says the Goldman Sachs deferred compensation plan is a classic case of “golden handcuffs.” He says the company’s restrictions on the deferred funds and attempts to force brokers to forfeit them are designed to keep brokers from taking their business to other firms.

Also representing Mr. Fullmer is attorney Shain Khoshbin of Clouse Dunn Khoshbin LLP.

Mr. Dunn noted that Mr. Fullmer was a top producer in Goldman Sach’s Los Angeles office and was chosen to provide training for the company’s new hires in New York. Currently, Mr. Fullmer works at UBS, where he is the top producer in that firm’s Los Angeles office and one of the company’s top 15 investment advisors nationwide, out of more than 7,000 UBS professionals.

This is the second million-dollar award Mr. Dunn has won against Goldman Sachs. On January 13, 2006, another arbitration panel awarded $2.5 million to a broker who worked in Goldman Sach’s San Francisco office and brought similar claims.

Mr. Dunn and Mr. Khoshbin regularly represent brokers and executives in the brokerage industry. They have litigated complex business and employment disputes throughout the country. Mr. Dunn is board certified in both Civil Trial Law and Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

More information is available at http://www.cdklawyers.com.

For more information on the Fullmer case, or to speak with attorney Rogge Dunn, please contact Mark Annick at 800-559-4534 (office), 214-213-1754 (mobile) or mark@androvett.com

This release was published on openPR.