Press Room
June 9, 2000
PaineWebber Unit: Suit Seeks $12.6M
In Damages
Dow Jones News Service
NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Klayman & Lazarus
LLP, on behalf of three customers, filed suit
against PaineWebber Group Inc.'s (PWJ) PaineWebber
Inc. unit before the National Association of
Securities Dealers Inc. for alleged unlawful
conduct at its Mitchell Field, N.Y., branch office.
The Mitchell Field office is part of PaineWebber's
Garden City retail complex, which is one of three
top producing branch offices, the law firm said
in a press release Friday.
The suit alleges that PaineWebber, through its
registered representative, Michael D. Prokop,
took advantage of a 17-year relationship with
the plaintiffs to engage in "unsuitable
and excessive trading."
The claim seeks compensatory and punitive damages
of $12.6 million for violations of the Securities
and Exchange Act of 1934 and New Jersey Securities
laws, common law fraud, breach of contractual
and fiduciaries duties and gross negligence.
The claim alleges that PaineWebber's Mitchell
Field branch office engaged in systematic and
pervasive fraud.
According to Klayman & Lazarus, Martin Kiffel,
a broker at the Mitchell Field branch office,
was fired on March 15, 1999, after admitting
to misappropriating funds from clients.
Subsequently, the U.S. Attorney's Office for
the Eastern District of New York began an investigation
and Kiffel pleaded guilty to a change of federal
wire fraud, the law firm said.
Web site: http://www.nasd-law.com
