Two former Merrill Lynch financial advisers who alleged the company made misleading statements related to a struggling investment product were the whistleblowers who received a $3 million payout by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wall Street Journal reported. The SEC announced the award June 3 but didn’t identify the tipsters or which case the award is connected to, in keeping with its policy. Rebecca Katz, a senior counsel at law firm Motley Rice LLC in New York who represents both whistleblowers, identified the company involved in the case as Merrill Lynch. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that former Merrill Lynch financial advisers Glen Ringwall and Mark Manion were concerned about a lack of adequate disclosure on certain fixed costs related to a structured-note product called Strategic Return Notes, which quickly lost value after being issued in 2010. The financial advisers secretly taped calls with executives at Merrill, during which they were told not to suggest to complaining clients that the product was flawed. Ringwall and Manion left the firm for rival UBS Group AG in 2012, then filed a whistleblower complaint over the notes with the SEC.
