J.P. Morgan is suing a former representative to try to prevent him from taking clients to his new firm.
J.P. Morgan Securities requested a temporary restraining order on Tuesday against David M. Anderson, an advisor in Rochester, Mich,. who recently moved to Stifel. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division.
Anderson resigned from J.P. Morgan in late June, according to the complaint, and since that time he has been contacting clients at his former firm via text messages and calls despite signing a non-solicitation agreement prohibiting him from soliciting J.P. Morgan’s clients for at least a year from his resignation.
The non-solicitation agreement also forbade Anderson from using any of J.P. Morgan’s proprietary information when prospecting for clients, the lawsuit claims.
While at J.P. Morgan, Anderson saved a book of about 311 client households with about $311 million in assets, the complaint said.
Anderson has brought about 15 clients with about $24 million in assets to Stifel from his former firm, in part because he was contacting them in violation of his agreement, according to the complaint filed by J.P. Morgan. At least 10 J.P. Morgan clients have reported that Anderson tried to solicit their business to Stifel, the lawsuit said.
“In one particularly egregious solicitation, a JPMorgan client (a couple) reported that [Anderson] showed up to the client’s private residence unannounced on a weekend with Stifel marketing materials in hand pitching Stifel to the client,” said the complaint. “The JPMorgan client indicated that [he] attempted to explain what he could do for them at Stifel in an attempt to induce the client to move their relationship from JPMorgan to [Anderson] at Stifel even though the client was not interested.”
The complaint alleged the contact was more than merely informing clients of his move to a new firm, with Anderson requesting client meetings and promising his clients a better array of investment options and products at his new firm
Anderson’s BrokerCheck report says he joined J.P. Morgan in 2009 and became a private client advisor in its Rochester branch office.
J.P. Morgan has asked that a restraining order remain in place until a Finra arbitration panel can rule on its complaint against Anderson.
Neither Anderson nor J.P. Morgan responded to calls for comment before press time..