It's not whom You know--but what they can tell you.

• Position: Charlotte

With prominence comes privilege, often in the guise of access to powerful people. But as one branch of Charlotte's prestigious Harris clan discovered, rubbing shoulders with fellow power players doesn't get you the kind of counsel you think you deserve--sometimes only sensible-sounding bad advice that can send a portfolio plummeting.

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That's what Cameron Harris says happened to him. He, wife Dee-Dee and son Gary, longtime Wachovia Corp. shareholders, accuse former CEO Ken Thompson and several other executives of making misleading public-and private--statements about the bank's health not long before it had to be rescued by regulators and sold on the cheap. Their lawsuit seeks unspecified damages that could reach into the millions.

Harris, grandson of a governor and part of the family that developed much of south Charlotte, says he confided to Thompson on a hunting trip in February 2008 that he was worried about the burgeoning housing crisis and Wachovia's withering stock price--then about $12. Thompson talked him out of selling, the suit alleges, even though the CEO unloaded some shares that same month, reaping more than $500,000.

The bank's board booted Thompson that June, but Wachovia continued to struggle until San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. acquired it at the height of the banking crisis. Each Wachovia share fetched less than a fifth of a Wells Fargo share, which meant it was...