A FINRA securities industry arbitration panel ordered a former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney broker to pay the firm nearly $1 million for breaching the terms of a promissory note.

Morgan Stanley last October had accused former broker Jamie Dick of failing to pay $938,884 owed on a promissory note, which had been executed in December 2007, that became due upon his termination in February.

Arbitrators on Friday also ordered Dick to pay Morgan Stanley $53,203 in prejudgment interest, $1,300 in attorneys' fees and $1,250 to reimburse Morgan Stanley for its initial filing fee.

The broker will accumulate a penalty of $109.32 a day from June 5 until he completely repays the award, according to the ruling posted on FINRA's website.

Dick did not make an appearance in this matter and was not represented by counsel, according to the panel's ruling. A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman declined to comment.

The arbitrators did not explain their decision, which went against the grain of some recent cases where brokers prevailed.

In three recent cases arbitrators ordered Merrill Lynch, which had initiated the claims, to pay out bonuses to the advisers. These advisers said they had been pushed out and in counterclaims asked for damages related to breach of contract and lost commissions.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, a joint venture between Morgan Stanley and Citigroup , may have benefited from Dick's failure to appear and a record of client complaints.

The former broker could not be reached for comment.

According to FINRA BrokerCheck records, Dick joined Morgan Stanley in 2007 in Las Vegas after four years as a broker with Wachovia Securities Financial Network LLC. He began his brokerage career with Edward D. Jones & Co in 1998.

FINRA records indicate that Dick has not registered with another broker-dealer since leaving Morgan Stanley.

BrokerCheck records show that a client in January filed a claim against Dick for $300,000 in damages surrounding an unsuitable investment in a private placement. That claim is still pending.

Three additional client claims were denied by arbitrators, FINRA records show.

FINRA last May suspended Dick for failure to comply with an arbitration award or settlement agreement or to satisfactorily respond to FINRA requests to provide information concerning the status of compliance.

Additional detail on this matter was not immediately available.

(Reporting by Joe Giannone in New York and Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Bernard Orr)