RCS Capital Corporation and Cetera Financial Group are suing Lightyear Capital claiming that the private equity firm is poaching Cetera executives for the AIG Advisor Group, which Lightyear is buying.
 
The claim for injunctive relief, filed Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware where RCAP is restructuring, alleges that Lightyear induced two former Cetera executives, Cynthia  Hamel and Susan Theder, to breach their non-compete agreements and join Lightyear in anticipation of working at Advisor Group.
 
Lightyear entered into a confidentiality agreement last September when it considered buying Cetera, which prohibited soliciting senior company employees, the claim says.
 
Hamel, former senior vice president of strategic operations for Cetera, and Theder, former chief operating officer, were also named in the suit.
 
Another former Cetera exec who joined Lightyear, chief accounting officer Ahmed Hassanein, is also mentioned in the filing but not named as a defendant.
 
All the former Cetera officials submitted letters of resignation on February 17, 2016, with effective dates of March 2, 2016, the claim says. All of them informed Cetera that they would be joining Lightyear.
 
RCAP and Cetera blame former Cetera chief executive Valerie Brown for the poaching.
 
“Lightyear or persons acting on its behalf and direction (such as Valerie Brown), directly or indirectly, solicited Hamel, Theder, and Hassanein for employment,” the claim says.
 
Brown was named incoming executive chairman of the Advisor Group in January when the Lightyear acquisition was announced.
 
Brown worked with Hamel and Theder “on a daily basis” at Cetera when she was CEO of the Cetera network, the claim says. She was not named as a defendant in the suit.