Mariner Wealth Advisors is suing Savvy Advisors for allegedly poaching three Cincinnati employees and an undisclosed number of clients with $60 million in assets, clients it claimed Savvy took as it strove to build a presence in Ohio earlier this year. The suit claims this team was an important part of Mariner’s effort to serve multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble.
The lawsuit, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in its Western Division in Cincinnati, asked for injunctive relief and damages from New York City-based Savvy and three ex-employees—including two advisors, Brad Morgan and Nate Kunkel, and a client services specialist, Timothy Gerard.
In the suit, Mariner accused Morgan, Kunkel and Gerard of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. It accused Savvy of tortious interference with a contract.
Neither Mariner nor Savvy returned a call for comment by the time this story was filed.
According to the suit, Mariner had employed Morgan for 10 years, most recently as director and senior wealth advisor; Kunkel for six years, most recently as senior wealth advisor; and Gerard for six years as well, most recently as a client services manager. Both Kunkel and Gerard reported to Morgan, the suit said.
The three worked on Mariner’s Procter & Gamble team, serving some of the international conglomerate’s 10,000-plus employees, retirees and families based at its world headquarters in Cincinnati, the suit said. In these roles, Morgan, Kunkel and Gerard “have specialized experience in Procter & Gamble employee benefits and are uniquely positioned to provide bespoke service to certain Mariner customers.”
Upstart Savvy, which launched its RIA in April 2022 and currently has $400 million in AUM according to its most recent Form ADV, only recently started putting down stakes in Ohio. On May 2, 2024, it registered as an RIA in the state for the first time, the lawsuit said.
It was roughly around the end of April and beginning of May that Morgan started to lay plans to join Savvy, the lawsuit alleged. Mariner claims he downloaded a client contact spreadsheet on May 3.
“Finding his match with Savvy, Morgan persuaded Kunkel and Gerard that they should join him at Savvy,” the lawsuit said. “From that point, Savvy and the individual defendants began covertly plotting to steal Mariner’s customers and strategizing about timing and messaging surrounding the individual defendants’ resignations from Mariner.”
On May 11, the suit alleged, Morgan forwarded personal appointments and activities to his personal Gmail account from his Mariner account.
On May 14, Kunkel submitted his resignation, and on May 20 changed his registration with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to say he had affiliated with Savvy. On May 23, Morgan submitted his resignation, effective in August, and on May 24, Gerard resigned as well, the lawsuit said.
The wealth created by multiple generations of Procter & Gamble employees has served to spawn many large advisory firms in the Cincinnati area. “Savvy’s motivation for recruiting the individual defendants was, in large part, to obtain AUM from Procter & Gamble employees, retirees and families, thousands of which are located in the state of Ohio,” the suit said. “Around the time Savvy began recruiting the individual defendants, Savvy added a dedicated landing page on its website soliciting business from those affiliated with Procter & Gamble.”
Kunkel’s bio page at Savvy notes that he primarily works with P&G employees, retirees and families and remains up to date on the company’s benefits.
Mariner, with $114 billion in AUM, is no stranger to lawsuits over poaching. The firm has been battling in the courts with Edelman Financial Engines, which accused Mariner in November of stealing talent, trade secrets and assets.
But talent wars are becoming the norm in the RIA world. Founders from both firms—Marty Bicknell from Mariner and Ric Edelman—cordially participated in a panel discussion about the matter this spring at the Wealth Management Convergence conference in West Palm Beach, Fla. in March.
The suit also accuses the three advisors and Savvy of civil conspiracy, breach of the Defend Trade Secrets Act, breach of the Ohio Uniform Trade Secrets Act, and tortious interference with business relations.