BofA managing director gender-bias suit withdrawn from court

THE LAWSUIT BY A FORMER MANAGING DIRECTOR against Bank of America accusing the institution of being a "bros club" among other things, have been withdrawn.
THE LAWSUIT BY A FORMER MANAGING DIRECTOR against Bank of America accusing the institution of being a "bros club" among other things, have been withdrawn.

NEW YORK – A former Bank of America Corp. managing director who accused the institution of being a “bros club” that favored male employees withdrew her lawsuit, according to a filing in New York federal court Wednesday.

The terms of the dismissal were not immediately clear. The case was being dismissed by agreement of the parties “without costs, disbursements, interest or an award of attorneys’ fees to any party,” according to the filing. A prior filing in the case said Megan Messina was offered $500,000 to settle.

The withdrawal of the lawsuit comes just four months after Messina, who was co-head of global structured credit products, became the latest woman to allege widespread bias at a Wall Street bank. Messina, 42, who became a managing director in 2011, sued in May, saying the bank paid her substantially less than male coworkers and that it treated women like second-class citizens.

William Halldin, a spokesman for Bank of America, didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Jonathan Sack, Messina’s lawyer, also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Messina also accused the bank of front-running – or trading ahead of client orders – as well as lying to customers and manipulating prices. When she complained of the practices, she said she was placed on forced leave and barred from returning to her office.

Federal prosecutors in North Carolina, where the Charlotte-headquartered bank is based, have been investigating for at least two years practices similar to what Messina alleged, a person familiar with the matter said in May. Her allegations describe more recent events.

The bank denied Messina’s allegations in court papers and insisted that the term “bros club” was never used by her supervisor or other managers but was invented by Messina and her lawyers.

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