Brokers’ Offices Are Sexual Harassment Cases Waiting to Explode

Top-producing financial advisers act with independence unheard of elsewhere in corporate America and wield power over their assistants’ pay

He was one of Morgan Stanley’s top financial advisers in Beverly Hills. She was a Brazilian waitress and bartender at an L.A. Sports Club. He asked her to fly to Brazil to work as a translator for him and one of his celebrity clients, pop star Katy Perry, she recalls. He then offered her entree into the securities industry as an administrative assistant.

In March, the assistant, Lorena Alcantara, accused the adviser, Michael Ladge, of sexual harassment, saying he had an ulterior motive ...