Elderly cowboy plunders Citigroup, bests Will Ferrell

In a reverse of last week's Will Ferrell/JPMorgan securities judgment, a Finra arbitration panel has ordered Citigroup to pay actor Larry Hagman $11.6 million in damages resulting from charges of "fraud and breach of fiduciary duty." Hagman, 79, is best known for his role as Texas oil tycoon J.R. Ewing on the hit 1980s television series Dallas. The actor filed the suit jointly with wife Maj, 82, after the pair saw losses on "almost all their life savings," managed by the banking giant. The New York Times reports that, according to Finra, the award is the largest of its kind this year and the ninth-largest to date.

Citigroup has since vowed to fight the verdict. The Times reports that lawyers from Munger, Tolles & Olsen's Los Angeles office have filed a motion on behalf of the bank, citing an undisclosed conflict of interest that would have exposed the Finra panel's chairman as biased. A Los Angeles Superior Court date is scheduled to address the motion, the likes of which are rarely successful, on December 17.

The panel's judgment actually awards just $1.1 million in compensation directly to Hagman; the remaining $10 million-plus, deemed a punitive measure, will be donated by Citigroup to charities of the actor's choosing. For a list of likely beneficiaries of the famed liberal's hard-earned windfall, check out the 'Activism' section of Larry Hagman's hilariously low-budge website.

- Sam Reynolds