Morgan Stanley is suing a former worker and accusing him of breaking his non-solicitation contract when he left to work at Raymond James.
The wirehouse filed its go well with towards Las Vegas-based advisor Nicholas Takahashi in Nevada federal court docket this week, in search of a short lived restraining order to cease him from allegedly engaging purchasers at his former agency to comply with him to Raymond James.
Up to now, Morgan Stanley argues Takahashi has solicited purchasers with a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands in belongings representing greater than $1 million in gross annual income for the wirehouse.
FINRA data present Takahashi entered the trade in 2008 at Wachovia earlier than Wells Fargo acquired it after which joined Morgan Stanley in 2013. Takahashi signed an settlement to not disclose “confidential” shopper data to rivals and wouldn’t solicit purchasers from Morgan Stanley for a 12 months after he stop or was fired, in accordance with the wirehouse.
On Might 8, Takahashi and his $1.3 billion group joined Raymond James from Morgan Stanley. The group included Takahashi (who joined Raymond James as a managing director), James Zapotocky, Joshua Yocam, Luka Vasiljevic, Michael Ortega, Stephen Ellignsen and Sean Tsaconas.
Morgan Stanley then contacted Takahashi, urging him to stick to his non-solicitation clause and return confidential shopper data, however the advisor denied retaining such data.
By early September, Morgan Stanley claimed it discovered that Takahashi and several other group members contacted purchasers of Steve Kleinertz, one other advisor for the wirehouse. In line with the go well with, Kleinertz and Takahashi had a “joint manufacturing settlement” encompassing all of Kleinertz’s purchasers, a setup inspired by Morgan Stanley as a backup succession plan for sudden life occasions.
Nevertheless, in accordance with Morgan Stanley, Takahashi (and his group) hadn’t arrange any “shopper connectivity or joint servicing” with Kleinertz, with every advisor managing their purchasers with none service crossover. To Morgan Stanley, the transfer was “primarily strategic” to maintain succession choices on the desk.
“Thus, it’s inconceivable the (Takahashi) and the Takahashi group members would have data of the purchasers serviced by Mr. Kleinertz and their extremely delicate data with out having accessed confidential shopper lists and data that weren’t associated to their job duties for Morgan Stanley, and unlawfully have taken such data to their new agency,” the criticism learn.
Morgan Stanley alleged that Takahashi’s group has contacted “many, if not all” of Kleinertz’s purchasers, with a few of them stunned that the inquiring group knew particulars of their account historical past regardless of by no means having crossed paths.
The wirehouse alleged that Tsaconas (at Takahashi’s path) instructed purchasers Kleinertz was “not at Morgan Stanley” and their accounts had been “not being actively managed.” The wirehouse referred to as these claims false “concern techniques,” as Kleinertz was nonetheless with the agency.
Morgan Stanley claimed it had outlined the allegations in a September letter to Takahashi’s counsel. The next month, the group denied the accusations, claiming Takahashi or his group had “personally interacted” with Kleinertz’s purchasers. In line with the wirehouse, this isn’t true, and so they declare Takahashi’s group continues to solicit Kleinertz’s shopper base.
Attorneys for Takahashi didn’t return a request for remark previous to publication.
