Three former employees of Woodbury Financial Services Inc. in Oakdale, Minn., are being sued by The Hartford Financial Services Group, the parent company of Woodbury, for allegedly taking confidential information from the firm before leaving.
The Hartford filed suit Aug. 29, asking for a temporary restraining order against the employees using the information. The company is preparing to ask Finra to arbitrate a settlement. The employees allegedly took the information after The Hartford agreed to sell Woodbury Financial Services to AIG (American International Group Inc.), according to the court papers.
AIG plans to operate Woodbury under its Advisor Group network of broker-dealers. Woodbury produced $254 million in gross revenue last year and the deal, which is expected to be closed by the end of the year, could net The Hartford between $62.5 million and $140 million.
The Hartford filed suit in U.S. District Court in Minnesota against Scott Carlson, Kevin Corrigan and Robert Cairns for allegedly taking confidential information from Woodbury in their last days of employment there, according to the suit. The information included gross commissions paid to Woodbury representatives, details about top producers, and advisors' addresses and contact numbers.
The three brokers now work for independent broker-dealer Questar Capital Corp., which is owned by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America Inc. Neither entity is named in the suit.
The three oversaw 188 registered representatives while at Woodbury, which had a total of 16 regional vice presidents and 1,300 independent registered representatives and financial advisors at the time the sale was announced in March as part of a larger restructuring. The three employees left Woodbury in July.
-Karen DeMasters