Larry Hagman, who those of us born before 1975 may remember as the diabolical J.R. Ewing from TV’s “Dallas,” today won a massive payday from Citigroup Inc. In 2009, Hagman accused the company of “a breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract, fraud by misrepresentation and omission, failure to supervise and violation of federal and state law.” A federal panel agreed and awarded the actor “$10 million in punitive damages that Citi must pay to charities selected by Hagman, $1.1 million in compensatory damages and nearly $440,000 in legal fees,” according to Reuters.
Mr Hagman alleged that Citi committed fraud and breached its fiduciary duty. The allegations involved unspecified securities he held at the bank and the purchase of a life-insurance policy, the three-person panel wrote this week.
The actor filed his complaint in May 2009, four months after Citi and Morgan Stanley agreed to fold their retail brokerage businesses into a joint venture.
The punitive award was the largest after a $15m settlement in 1999.
A spokesman for Mr Hagman said the actor had no immediate comment on the ruling and was not ready to name the charities that would receive donations.
The arbitrators denied Citi’s request to expunge all references from the case from the records of Mr Hagman’s financial adviser, Lisa Detanna.
According to Finra’s broker database, Ms Detanna works at the Beverly Hills, California, offices of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.
A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman confirmed that Ms Detanna remained an employee and declined further comment.