Lawsuits

The Financial Services Institute is pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt formal procedures to prevent what it deems the sometimes capricious enforcement of industry rules.

Matthew Madera has become the latest former JPMorgan private client advisor to be sued after leaving for another firm. In a recent stipulated order, he agreed to stop soliciting former clients until the dispute can be resolved.

Financial Planning's AI Readiness Survey found that advisors are already using AI for creating legal document summaries and seeing results, but legal experts warn that undisclosed, unmonitored use could open firms up to liability.

Former Morgan Stanley broker Kathy Frazier sued the firm in 2015 and was later joined by six other Black plaintiffs who also alleged they had been systematically excluded from the best advisory teams and client leads.

Francisco Gil tried to claim his status as an independent contractor entitled him to tax deductions for travel, meals and marketing expenses. The IRS and a federal judge said he was in fact an employee.

Merrill had sought a temporary restraining order to prevent members of a large Atlanta-based team who left last week from soliciting former clients for their new firm.

UBS contends a group of advisors who left this month to form an RIA inherited most of their clients from retired advisors who were counting on being paid from their former books of business.

Also this month in our disciplinary digest, a now-barred 'problem broker' for Stifel lands his former firm another hefty settlement, and an advisor is accused of fraud for trying to poach clients from his old firm.

In a lengthy court reply, advisors who left Merrill this week to form an RIA with Dynasty Financial Partners accuse Merrill of "bad faith" for putting them on administrative leave and failing to reinvest in their business.

Merrill accuses industry rivals of conspiring with a group of former employees to remove confidential client information and trade secrets for the formation of a new RIA.

Attorneys and other compliance experts say it's important that financial advisors greet any type of negative feedback with a thoughtful response — especially if it could turn into a legal matter.

In its third suit in as many months, JPMorgan is accusing a former advisor of using its banking referrals to build a book of business and then trying to abscond with those clients to a rival firm.

Raymond James accuses the widower of an advisor of using data stored on his wife's company-issued computer to solicit clients for a rival firm.

Errors and omissions policies may not represent the most exciting aspect of launching an advisory firm, but experts say custodians often require firms to purchase this and other insurance.

Also this month in our disciplinary digest, a frequent CNBC analyst is sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding investors, and a former Fidelity advisor faced charges after borrowing millions from clients.

Recruiters say firms routinely cover advisors' lost deferred compensation in offer packages. Those deals are complicating efforts by advisors who contend they're still owed backpay.

Stanley Tulin and his wife, Riki, say they were deprived of more than $19 million by a scam run by their former investment advisors. And JPMorgan, they argue in a lawsuit, could have prevented the whole thing.

The mega bank had tried to resist going before FINRA arbitrators by arguing its brokerage unit wasn't involved in an $8.4 million fraud scheme. The victim and a federal judge disagreed.

A group of former Ameriprise brokers argue they had no say in a court agreement requiring them to hand over their cell phones and other devices to a third-party forensic examiner.

The win for Morgan Stanley comes after a recent string of victories against brokers who left for rival firms. But as the outcome in the JPMorgan case shows, firms don't always prevail.