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 swimsuit towards Las Vegas-based advisor Nicholas Takahashi in Nevada federal courtroom this week, in search of a brief restraining order to cease him from allegedly engaging purchasers at his former agency to observe him to Raymond James.
Thus far, 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 business 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 info to opponents and wouldn’t solicit purchasers from Morgan Stanley for a 12 months after he stop or was fired, in keeping with the wirehouse.
On Could 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 info, however the advisor denied retaining such info.
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 keeping with the swimsuit, 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.
Nonetheless, in keeping 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 info with out having accessed confidential shopper lists and data that weren’t associated to their job obligations for Morgan Stanley, and unlawfully have taken such info 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 route) advised purchasers Kleinertz was “not at Morgan Stanley” and their accounts have been “not being actively managed.” The wirehouse referred to as these claims false “worry 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 keeping 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.
