Andrew Harris

The lawsuit highlights a friction that exists at financial-services firms that put employees into their own product.

Former MF Global Inc. broker Evan Brent Dooley was sentenced to five years in prison for making unlawful unauthorized trades that caused the now-defunct futures firm to lose more than $141 million in 2008.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago today affirmed U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman's decision last year to throw out the complaint filed against Merrill Lynch and Bank of America Corp. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender acquired the securities firm for $33 billion in 2009.