Prudential Client Wins $1 Million in Damages

A National Assn. of Securities Dealers panel has awarded $1 million in damages to a Prudential Securities Inc. client because the firm did not properly discipline an Encino broker despite customer complaints, the client’s law firm said Monday.

Under the arbitration ruling made Friday by the market regulator, Prudential Securities will pay $500,000 in punitive damages and $500,000 in compensatory damages, according to a statement by the client’s law firm, Aidikoff & Uhl.

Prudential Securities is jointly owned by Prudential Financial Inc. and Wachovia Corp. A spokesman for Prudential Securities declined to comment.

The client’s lawyers said Prudential did not crack down on a broker in its Encino branch office who pursued an aggressive investment strategy even though the client preferred less risk.

Although Sylvia Schuyler, 75, of Santa Barbara was a conservative investor, the broker sold her bonds in more aggressive investments, leading to losses in her retirement accounts, the attorneys said.