Lawsuits

A Ninth Circuit appellate panel ruled that10 advisors recruited to LPL from Ameriprise have the right to resist turning over their personal devices to a forensic examiner to be searched for evidence of misappropriated client data.

The justices are scheduled to resolve disagreement among lower courts over whether market regulators can order fraudsters to repay ill-gotten gains to victims.

Kyle Busch's lawsuit against Pacific Life and his former insurance agent provides a window into potential issues around complexity, suitability and more in indexed universal life policies.

Keith Todd Ashley, an advisor indicted for the murder of a client, has turned to the Fifth Circuit of Appeals to fight his 60-year prison sentence in a related fraud case.

American Portfolios Financial Services, a formerly independent brokerage now under the Osaic umbrella, was accused of not being forthright about its handling of clients' uninvested cash.

Chuck Roberts, who was banned from the industry in July, continues to rack up customer disputes and big settlement amounts for his former firm.

Mary Kate Gulick's case was dismissed with prejudice, a year after the case's allegations against a major RIA drew significant attention across the industry.

Angel Ayala became the subject of JPMorgan's latest suit against its former private client advisors — "two days before Christmas day when most people are spending time with family," said his lawyer.

Two former advisors accuse JPMorgan of assigning them to poorer parts of Brooklyn, New York, and allowing their White male colleagues to poach their clients.

Brett Griffin was given two months' notice that he would lose his job when Charles Schwab closed the office where he was working in Temecula, California. Now the firm accuses him of using some of that time to help move client data to a rival RIA.

Henry Robert Gleckler IV's dispute with JPMorgan over his alleged solicitation of his former clients now heads for a resolution before a FINRA arbitration panel.

JPMorgan again shows it makes a sharp distinction between advisors who build their own books of business and those who amass clientele from bank referrals.

Wells Fargo had argued that FINRA arbitration was the correct forum for a complaint brough by an ex-employing alleging the firm had used false interviews to boost its diversity credentials. Now the whistleblower will have his day in court.

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.