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Former NBA Player Kwame Brown Accuses Merrill Lynch of Fraud

Former NBA Player Kwame Brown Accuses Merrill Lynch of Fraud

(Bloomberg) -- Former professional basketball player Kwame Brown is crying foul on Merrill Lynch, saying the brokerage stole $17.4 million of his investments.

Brown said in a lawsuit that his signature was forged on various authorization forms and agreements, allowing his financial adviser to make investments and stock trades without his consent.

Former NBA Player Kwame Brown Accuses Merrill Lynch of Fraud

When Brown sought an accounting of his investments last year, he was told he had no monies with Merrill Lynch, according to his complaint filed Thursday in Los Angeles.

Brown, 36, was the first number one National Basketball Association draft pick to be selected straight out of high school. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards among other teams.

A spokesman for Bank of America Corp., Merrill Lynch’s parent company, had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wollman at ewollman@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg

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