A recent arbitration incident and the circumstances surrounding it have enraged investor advocates who contend that securities industry-sponsored arbitration is inherently unfair to investors and that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s monopoly over investor dispute resolution should be ended. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the securities brokerage industry’s self-regulatory organization, is alleged to have secretly removed three arbitrators from its arbitrator pool in the months after a May 2011 arbitration in which they ordered Merrill Lynch to pay $520,000 to the estate of a former customer, Robert Postell. The removal occurred after Merrill Lynch’s attorney complained about what he contended was “misconduct” by the arbitrators. After FINRA’s machinations came to light, and a firestorm of protest erupted, FINRA executives listened to the tapes of the hearing, concluded there was no misconduct by the arbitrators, and reinstated all three of them.