Merrill Still Discriminates Against Black Advisor Trainees: Lawsuit

Merrill said Wednesday in a statement shared with ThinkAdvisor that it denies the allegations in Bradley's complaint.

"We value Mr. Bradley’s contributions to our organization, but we disagree that he was treated unfairly relating to the terms of his partnership and its subsequent dissolution, all of which were agreed-upon several years ago," Merrill said.

San Antonio Office

After working for Bank of America for three years, Bradley joined Merrill’s training program as part of the August 2016 cohort in the San Antonio office, according to the suit.

"Despite his strong background and experience with Bank of America, Merrill Lynch questioned his ability to succeed because of his race," the suit contends.

For example, a Bank of America branch manager "openly doubted to Bradley’s peers whether he would make it through the training program because he was a Black man with dreadlocks working in an affluent neighborhood," the suit continues.

Bradley’s manager "initially ignored him, meeting one-on-one with his non-Black peers, but not with him," the suit states.

When Bradley sought out this manager to introduce himself, "the manager was startled by Bradley’s presence and reacted as if Bradley were going to mug him," the suit continues. "Not long after, a fellow Black trainee asked when Bradley was going to cut his hair, but then quickly admitted that management had sent him to ask Bradley about it."

The next time the manager saw Bradley, he was with colleagues and was wearing a hat.

Upon seeing Bradley, the manager "exclaimed 'Johnni, you cut your hair! That’s great!,' or words to that effect," the suit states. "Bradley had not cut his hair," and shortly thereafter, the manager was promoted.

Poaching Clients

During the training program, Merrill Lynch "condoned the poaching of Bradley’s clients," according to the suit.

For example, Bradley sourced a high-net-worth client.

"The client inadvertently arrived at the wrong branch for their first meeting, at no fault of Bradley’s," the suit continues. "Instead of honoring the Firm’s non-solicitation policy, and over Bradley’s objections, the Firm permitted a non-Black FA to retain this client, who then transferred roughly $20 million" to Merrill.

"Because Bradley stuck up for himself and complained about this treatment, management labeled him a 'troublemaker,' a common stereotype for Black individuals who assert their rights," the suit states.

Teaming Matters

Throughout the training program, Merrill "emphasized the difficulty of success absent teaming and encouraged Bradley to join a team," the suit states.

Merrill Lynch promised and represented to Bradley that teaming would provide him access to mentoring and clients. Relying on these promises, Bradley joined the team and invested his time and energy in bringing in assets to split with the team instead of focusing on only developing his own business.

However, this was to Bradley’s detriment.

"Instead of offering Bradley the same terms as the white trainee that had joined the team shortly before Bradley (a 70/30 split in the trainee’s favor), the team attempted to pressure Bradley to enter a 30/70 split in the team’s favor," the suit maintains.

"Understanding the importance of teams to a trainee’s success, Bradley negotiated on his own behalf for a better split, although the team would still not agree to the same terms as it did for the white trainee," it continues.

Even after agreeing to this split, "the team continually pressured Bradley to accept worse splits for any given client," says the suit. "Moreover, Bradley did not receive any of the benefits of teaming, as the team did not mentor Bradley or share any production credits or assets with him while he was in the training program — he reached all of his hurdles from self-sourced clients."

Discrimination Escalates

According to the lawsuit, Merrill’s discrimination against Bradley escalated after he became an advisor.

Bradley remained on the team after he graduated as an advisor in 2019.

Per the terms of the Bank Team Financial Advisor agreement between Bradley, the team and Merrill Lynch, "Bradley was entitled to an annual split of 125,000 production credits from the team within one month of his graduation, which would increase his compensation," the suit states.

"The team failed to provide this split, and Merrill Lynch never enforced the agreement, despite Bradley bringing the failure to management’s attention," it adds.

Prior Case

In mid-2024, Merrill Lynch agreed to pay $19.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that contended the firm systemically discriminated against its African American advisors and advisor trainees.

The suit dated back to July 2021 and was filed on May 24, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida by Lucinda Council, Ravynne Gilmore, Verna Maitland and Hilari Ngufor.

The four were formerly employed at Merrill as financial advisors, Financial Advisor Development Program trainees and/or Financial Solutions advisors.

"We reached an agreement to resolve this matter so we could focus on initiatives to assist Black financial advisors and their clients," a spokesperson for Merrill told ThinkAdvisor last year.

The proposed settlement aimed to cover the more than 1,000 African American financial advisors nationwide that Merrill employs or has employed.

The violations of African American employees' rights "are systemic and are based upon company-wide policies and practices," the 2024 suit contended.

Merrill said at the time that it had "implemented numerous policies and programs over the last 10 years, such as annual leadership symposiums, workshops, and increased training and coaching."

The number of Black financial advisors at Merrill "has increased by more than 40% and their representation on teams has more than tripled," according to the firm's spokesperson.

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