Wells Fargo's latest loss: $400M team jumps to Jefferies

Jefferies recruited two advisers from Wells Fargo, marking the latest in a series of departures from the wirehouse.

Wells Fargo's brokerage force has declined by more than 500 advisers over the past three quarters. Last year, a fake account scandal rocked the bank, drawing the ire of regulators as well as congressional lawmakers. That scandal cost Wells Fargo its CEO and another high ranking executive as well as more than $185 million in fines.

Jefferies new hires, advisers Julian Rodrigo Soto and Santiago Ocampo, oversaw more than $400 million in client assets, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Ocampo had been with the wirehouse and its predecessor firms since joining the industry in 2000, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. Soto joined Wells Fargo in 2003, per BrokerCheck.

Cooper Neill/Bloomberg News

The team, which made the move on Friday, is based in Miami and serves wealth clients from Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.

A Wells Fargo spokeswoman declined to comment on their departure.

This is not the first time this year that Jefferies has lured away talent from Wells Fargo. In May, the firm nabbed a team that oversaw approximately $1.5 billion in client assets while at Wells Fargo. That group was also based in Miami and serves wealthy Latin American clients.