The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority claims a prominent Miami securities broker is double-dipping by using both a lawsuit and arbitration to try to get customer complaints expunged from his record.

Patrick Dwyer of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. is the No. 5 wealth adviser in America and has $3.1 billion under management, according to 2017 data from Forbes.

He also has seven client complaints on his record, mostly involving allegedly unsuitable investment recommendations, according to FINRA's BrokerCheck tool. The complaints were filed from 2001 to 2009 and have all been closed. Only one led to a settlement payment from Merrill Lynch, with clients receiving $111,000 after alleging an investment was made earlier than they wanted.

According to FINRA, Dwyer sought to have the complaints expunged from his record in 2013 by filing litigation in Los Angeles. FINRA opposed the expungement, and a California judge ruled against Dwyer after a bench trial.

The broker then filed an arbitration claim in 2016 with only Merrill Lynch as a respondent. Neither Dwyer nor his employer told the arbitration panel about the California case, according to FINRA. Merrill Lynch did not oppose expungement of the complaints, and Dwyer won an arbitration award in his favor last July.

Now that the award is awaiting Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Miguel De La O's approval, FINRA has stepped in to oppose the confirmation, arguing Dwyer misled the arbitration panel. According to FINRA, when the panel asked Dwyer about the timing of his claim, he testified he “didn't know we could file for expungement [earlier]—you would be surprised how clueless we are.”

Dwyer “now attempts to tax the resources of yet another judicial forum, this court, in his pursuit of relief to which he is not entitled,” FINRA wrote in a Jan. 30 filing. “The court should not allow respondent to have the proverbial second bite at the apple given the preclusive effect of the state court action and FINRA's rule that a broker may sue or arbitrate the issue of expungement—but cannot do both.”

Dwyer's attorney, Jeff Sonn of Sonn Law Group in Aventura, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

The case has drawn the interest of state regulators, with the Office of Financial Regulation filing motions to intervene and to vacate the award Monday. The office said it was not notified of the arbitration until it had concluded.

“Should the arbitration award be confirmed, the OFR's rights will be affected,” wrote attorney Stephen Masterson of the office's securities division in court filings. “The integrity of [FINRA's Central Registration Depository] is an essential element in the regulation of the securities industry. The deletion of information from the CRD affects OFR's co-ownership of the subject records and the agency's ability to carry out its regulatory functions.”

FINRA is represented by David Mandel of Mandel & Mandel in Miami, who declined to comment.

A representative for Merrill Lynch, which is owned by Bank of America, also declined to comment.