CNBC on-air editor Charles Gasparino broke a story today on Phil Spartis, a former Salomon Smith Barney broker. Gasparino reported that Spartis was recently awarded a $1 million defamation judgment in an arbitration against lawyer Stuart Goldberg. Goldberg had published a 107-page document on the internet linking Spartis to disgraced telecom analyst Jack Grubman. Here’s the CNBC clip of Gasparino’s interview with Spartis; Goldberg declined to appear on the program.
Spartis, who worked out of Salomon’s Atlanta office, handled accounts for WorldCom executives and was accused by Goldberg of taking part in a conspiracy with Citigroup (the parent of what was then called Salomon Smith Barney), Grubman, and WorldCom to defraud investors. Spartis remains under investigation by the NYSE, but says he is confident he’ll be exonerated.
Details here from the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog.