Ex-Wells Fargo Broker Wins Bid to Overturn $2.2 Million Arbitration Award

In an unusual ruling, a New York state court judge has tossed out an arbitration award ordering a former Wells Fargo Advisors broker to pay the firm nearly $2.2 million in a promissory note dispute. In a March 4 order, New York Supreme Court Judge Verna L. Saunders wrote that “undisclosed information” by the chair of the arbitration panel which issued the underlying award, “reasonably supports an inference of bias that tainted the entire hearing and constitutes sufficient grounds for vacatur.” That arbitrator, identified in the underlying March 2025 award as Alfreida B. Kenny, had multiple undisclosed liens and judgements against her, including one in favor of Wells Fargo, according to the court order. Saunders agreed with the broker, 24-year industry veteran Marc Torres, that “by concealing these liens and judgments, even if currently satisfied,” the chairperson “deprived” the broker of the “opportunity to challenge her appointment on fully informed grounds,” according to the order. Torres, who is now registered with J.P. Morgan Securities in New York, argued that Kenny’s disclosure lapses violated the rules created for fair hearings set by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, as well as court and federal law. Saunders ordered that a new arbitration be conducted. Wells also has the option to appeal the ruling, according to lawyers familiar with the case. In March last year, the arbitration panel chaired by Kenny denied Torres’ request for $5 million in damages based on Wells’ alleged breach of employment promises. The panel instead granted Wells’ request for repayment of $1.36 million in promissory note obligations, along with $120,769 in costs, $686,906 in attorney fees and interest. The panel also assigned Torres responsibility for $56,000 in hearing fees, while Wells was assessed $1,237, according to the award. A Wells spokesperson said the company was reviewing the New York court’s decision. In a May 2025 brief filed in New York state court, the brokerage argued that Torres filed his petition to vacate to delay payment of his obligations and that he could not “establish partiability” by the arbitrator Kenny based on her allegedly undisclosed liens and judgments. Wells also argued that Torres’ argument is “misleading” because Kenny does not have any outstanding liens or judgements against her, according to the order. “Our argument had to do with the fact that [Kenny] had a multitude of liens and judgments,” said Torres’ lawyer, Seth Rubinson in Houston, Texas. Rubinson said he uncovered 30 liens and judgements against Kenny, including the one held by Wells for a home mortgage. Although her obligation to Wells and others had been satisfied, it nonetheless was not disclosed by Kenny and therefore supported Torres’ request to vacate the award, Rubinson said. Kenny did not immediately respond to a request for comment emailed to her office. Scrutinizing an arbitrator’s background is not unusual when filing a motion to vacate an award, but it is rare for the tactic to succeed as it did for Torres, said Scott Silver of the Silver Law Group in Coral Springs, Florida. Silver anticipated that Wells would appeal the decision given it turns on a “narrow question of whether these 30 year old judgments were material and should have been disclosed.” Torres began his broker career at Lehman Brothers in 2000 and has been registered with more than a dozen firms since then, according to his BrokerCheck record, which shows no disclosures of discipline, discharges, regulatory actions or customer complaints.