J.P. Morgan Securities is seeking a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief against former advisor Taulant Cela, who the firm alleges has already successfully solicited at least five clients with $8.5 million in household assets since leaving to join Wells Fargo earlier this month.
At the time Cela left J.P. Morgan on February 12, he was working with approximately 412 of its clients with $122 million in total assets under management, the firm said in a lawsuit it filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey on Wednesday.
J.P. Morgan said it needs the restraining order and a preliminary injunction to block Cela from soliciting the entire $122 million book of business he worked with.
Cela “now seeks to improperly induce such JPMorgan clients to follow him to Wells Fargo,” the firm argued in the lawsuit.
Cela did not return a call for comment made to his Wells Fargo branch in Summit, N.J. His attorney is Thomas B. Lewis at Sevens & Lee in Lawrenceville, N.J. Lewis said he couldn’t comment since the case was pending in court, but that his client would be filing a response tomorrow.
Cela was a dually registered advisor with JPMorgan Private Client Services in New Jersey for nine years before joining Wells Fargo in February.
J.P. Morgan argues that Cela’s conduct constitutes a breach of his employment agreement, which contains non-solicitation and confidentiality provisions that prevent him from contacting clients for one year.
The restraining order and injunctive relief will “prevent continued irreparable harm from [Cela’s] misconduct,” the firm argues.
J.P. Morgan is also seeking the return of “confidential client information,” pending resolution of the firm’s claims against Cela, which were filed in a related arbitration.
“More than a dozen JPMorgan clients have informed JPMorgan that [Cela] has asked them to transfer their business to him at Wells Fargo, asked for meetings with the clients to discuss Wells Fargo, and received Wells Fargo’s marketing materials or account transfer paperwork from [Cela] that they did not request,” the firm argued in the lawsuit.