An Indianapolis woman has won more than $3 million in an arbitration claim against Merrill Lynch for investing for her in a complex directive which lost money. A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel awarded Kathleen McKinney $3,321,442 after she alleged that her brokers put her into a pre-paid forward liquidity contract – a product her lawyer described as a complex derivative with fees of 20 per cent. Ms McKinney's lawyer said she wasn't told about the fees and lost most of the investment the contract was supposed to protect. He also alleged that her brokers communicated only with her then husband, who didn't have power of attorney over her accounts and who forged her signature on account documents. They have since divorced. Merrill Lynch said in a statement that the case "is a stark example of the impossibility of meaningful wealth management amidst adversarial spouses in a deteriorating marriage." Ms McKinney had sought more than $5 million in compensatory damages.