A former senior employee of Deutsche Bank Securities who claimed to have been fired by the firm for blowing the whistle on what he saw as improper transactions was vindicated last week.
Jorge Daniel Usandivaras was awarded $3 million in an action he filed against his former employer with FINRA.
Usandivaras claimed that he was dismissed for making reports to management about conduct that he thought was improper and potentially illegal or fraudulent, said his attorney John Crossman of New York law firm Zukerman Gore Brandeis & Crossman.
The alleged improper conduct involved post-tax hedge transactions, which Usandivaras resisted and prevented from occurring, Crossman said. The proposed two-part transactions were to be done in two countries and take advantage of the interplay between the laws in the two countries, according to Crossman.
"The particular form that they were proposing he felt was improper," said Crossman. "Apparently, the [FINRA arbitration] panel agreed."
Usandivaras, who worked for Deutsche Bank Securities in New York City, according to his BrokerCheck report, sought compensatory damages in the amount of $4.5 million. He is now with J.P. Morgan Securities.
Catherine Wooters, a spokesperson for Deutsche Bank, declined to comment on the matter.
Crossman said the ruling "hopefully will encourage other people to come forward in the future."
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