Lawsuits

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.

Chuck Roberts, whose recommendations of structured notes landed the St. Louis firm a nearly $133 million arbitration award, was kicked out of the industry after ceasing to cooperate with a regulatory investigation.