When Merrill brokers leave the company, their accounts are often redistributed to remaining brokers.

Some Merrill brokers have rebelled because the new pricing structure reduces how much they make from some of their accounts.

In recent years, he has advised investors to allocate more money to bonds and cash - to the annoyance of many Merrill brokers.

One longtime Merrill broker said he was resigned to earning 30 percent less from clients with more than $1 million in their accounts.

Merrill brokers provide sophisticated advice, he said, including models that take into account future college costs.

That finding could bolster the claims of about 40 current and former Merrill brokers whose cases have not been resolved.

Six minutes later," he said, "a Merrill broker began making a series of rapid-fire purchases.

"There is a sense of betrayal, but it's on two different fronts," one longtime Merrill broker said.

Merrill brokers were pushed hard by their superiors to sell the fund.

She and her daughter, Janine, 43, also a Merrill broker, manage more than $900 million for a roster of clients around the world.