J.P. Morgan Securities has gone to court to stop incidents of client poaching by some of its former advisors, according to Financial Advisor.
In one case, the firm filed a lawsuit in federal court against David M. Anderson, who resigned from J.P. Morgan in June and moved to Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. J.P. Morgan said Anderson contacted clients at his former firm in violation of a non-solicitation agreement barring him from soliciting those clients for at least a year after resigning. J.P. Morgan requested a temporary restraining order until a panel of FINRA arbitrators issues a ruling on the firm’s complaint.
J.P. Morgan also filed similar lawsuits against three other former advisors: Seth Chamberlain, who left the firm for Ameriprise, and Samira Arikat and Brian Armstrong, a married couple who departed for Wells Fargo. J.P. Morgan asked for temporary restraining orders to block the advisors from taking former clients with them until a FINRA arbitration decision.
The action against Arikat and Armstrong did not proceed after J.P. Morgan reached an agreement with the duo. They agreed to refrain from soliciting former clients and employees to move to Wells Fargo until FINRA rules on the case and will return any records or documents involving those clients and employees.
In the case of Chamberlain, J.P. Morgan claims he convinced 66 clients to transfer their accounts to Ameriprise after he left in late May. He is accused, among other things, of violating non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements.
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