March 13 (Reuters) - Stifel Financial ( SF ) was ordered

by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel

to pay a family $132.5 million for misrepresenting the risk of

complex structured notes, causing what their lawyer called

"staggering" losses.

The three-member panel on Wednesday awarded $26.5 million in

compensatory damages, $79.5 million in punitive damages and

$26.5 million for legal fees to David Jannetti, of Miami Beach,

Florida, and his children Sarah, Adam and Leah, from New York.

Stifel said on Thursday it will appeal, calling the

Jannettis "a sophisticated family of experienced and aggressive

investors" who understood the risks, helped choose the

investments, monitored them closely and complained only after

losing money.

The Jannettis asked a Miami federal judge to confirm the

award, which was imposed against the Stifel, Nicolaus wealth

management and investment banking unit.

A $132.5 million award equals 19% of the St. Louis-based

parent's profit in 2024.

In an interview, the Jannettis' lawyer, Jeffrey Erez, said

the case concerned so-called auto-callable contingent coupon

notes.

He said the Stifel broker did not understand the risks of

the notes, whose value was linked to the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF

and stocks such as DocuSign ( DOCU ), Dynatrace ( DT ),

Palantir Technologies ( PLTR ) and Twilio ( TWLO ).

The Jannettis ended up losing "a staggering amount of money"

- about $60 million over three years, the vast majority of what

they invested - after Stifel overconcentrated their money in the

notes, Erez said.

"We're extremely pleased" with the award, Erez said. "This

is a strong message to Stifel and other broker-dealers that if

you don't enforce industry and compliance rules, there will be

accountability."

Stifel ended 2024 with 2,229 financial advisers and $501

billion of assets under management.