A dispute between Mario Gabelli's mutual fund shop and one of his distribution executives has spilled over into federal court.

Rye, New York-based Gamco Investors [profile] sued senior vice president and national sales manager Jim Scanlon in federal court in White Plains, the Westchester County Business Journal reports. Scanlon filed a $6.5-million claim with the American Arbitration Association, the Journal notes, and Gamco is trying to push that fight into arbitration with Finra instead.

Scanlon accuses Gamco of clawing back more than $100,000 in commissions, of never paying hundreds of thousands more in commissions, and of illegally forcing him to pay for his team's entertainment and travel expenses, attorney David Harmon tells the Journal.

On the flip side, Gabelli's company contends that Scanlon's accusations are meritless, that he was well-paid, and that "Scanlon is violating his hiring agreement by asserting his claims in the wrong forum and doing so more than 180 days after the problems arose." The company also accuses Scanlon of trying to divert his team's commissions to himself.

An alumnus of Western New England University, Scanlon joined Gamco in 2006 after working in retirement sales at Merrill and Putnam. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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