Brokerage Denies Charges in $100-Million Lawsuit

A group of Thomson McKinnon Inc. employees filed a $100-million lawsuit Friday claiming that executives of the Wall Street brokerage bankrupted an employee trust fund and used company assets to pay for apartments and a yacht.

The federal suit also alleges that a deal to sell struggling Thomson McKinnon this year fell through after buyer Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. discovered that the brokerage was overvalued by $80 million to $95 million.

After the deal collapsed, Prudential-Bache in July purchased only Thomson McKinnon’s retail brokerage offices and customer accounts.

The company denied the allegations in the lawsuit, filed by 16 current and former Thomson McKinnon employees in U.S. District Court in Manhattan as a class action on behalf of an estimated 2,800 employees who owned stock in the firm, which traces its formation to 1885.