A $642.50 deli platter ended up costing JPMorgan Chase $4.25 million.
A Wall Street arbitration panel ordered the banking giant to pay veteran Beverly Hills, Calif., broker Brent Ryan Bodner millions in damages for his firing last year over an expense-account submission linked to a business meeting at his home.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued the ruling last week.
Bodner’s lawyer told The Post on Thursday that JPMorgan mischaracterized a February 2024 gathering the broker held as a “Super Bowl party” at an eatery when it was actually a pre-approved business meeting at his home involving a client and a prospective client.
The attorney, Baltimore-based Marc Seldin Rosen, said the disputed expense involved a platter that was delivered to Bodner’s house for the confab and ordered a few days before the big game.
Rosen said Bodner’s assistant sought approval for the meeting before the Super Bowl and ordered the platter in advance, adding that the paperwork was handled the same way she had made similar food orders in the past.
“They weren’t hiding anything,” the lawyer said, noting that the receipt showed delivery to Bodner’s home. “There was nothing nefarious at all. They submitted the documents showing that it was at his house.”
Rosen said Bodner’s assistant coded the expense as though the food had been consumed at the deli rather than delivered to the home, but argued the charge fell below the firm’s spending cap and complied with company policy at the time.
JPMorgan used the $642.50 platter as a pretext to fire his client, Rosen alleged.
“It was not a Super Bowl party,” he told The Post. “They tried to mischaracterize it as a Super Bowl party on their nickel to disparage him.”
Bodner spent more than a decade registered with JPMorgan Securities and its affiliated entities.
But Rosen alleged JPMorgan had already decided to fire him before its deli-platter investigation was complete, claiming “the die was cast” and that internal staff moved “like vultures on a carcass” to carve up Bodner’s clients.
The lawyer said an internal message suggested the bank believed Bodner would “pick up his book of business and leave” before a scheduled interview, prompting JPMorgan to assign what Rosen called a “retention team to divvy up his book of business before the interview even happened.”
JPMorgan pushed back on Rosen’s claims.
“We disagree with counsel’s characterizations of the facts and believe they are contrary to the witness testimony and evidence presented at the hearing,” a JPMorgan spokesperson told The Post.
“In every workplace in America, submitting an inaccurate expense report is grounds for termination,” the JPMorgan spokesperson added.
“When a company takes reasonable actions based on its investigation and submits a good faith U5 in compliance with the law, it should not be second-guessed and punished with a multi-million dollar award.”
News of the ruling was first reported by Barron’s.
FINRA — the self-regulatory body that oversees US broker-dealers and runs the securities industry’s mandatory arbitration forum for disputes between firms and brokers — also recommended that Bodner be allowed to expunge from his regulatory record the termination language tied to his May 2024 firing.
The panel further directed that the reason for his departure be changed to “voluntary” and that the termination explanation be deleted entirely.
“We vehemently disagree with FINRA’s decision and are disappointed by this outcome,” a JP Morgan Wealth Management spokesperson told The Post.
FINRA’s five-page ruling did not spell out the underlying facts of the dispute in detail or explain why arbitrators sided with Bodner, who now works for Wells Fargo.
The hefty damages come with a 10% annual interest from the date of service until the judgment is paid in full.
The arbitrators also ordered JPMorgan to reimburse Bodner $800 in filing fees.
The panel denied all other claims, including Bodner’s request for punitive damages.
Bodner initially sought $15 million in compensatory damages and another $15 million in punitive damages in the arbitration, according to FINRA.
The dispute was heard before a three-member FINRA panel in Los Angeles over multiple hearing sessions spanning March and April.
The bank has not publicly disclosed whether it plans to challenge the award in court.
Under FINRA rules, arbitration awards are generally final within the FINRA system, though parties can seek limited judicial review under the Federal Arbitration Act.
The award also puts JPMorgan on the hook for most of the case-related forum fees and hearing costs.
