JP Morgan Securities is suing a former employee after he left for Raymond James, accusing the adviser of soliciting clients and breaching contractual agreements.
The bank is seeking a temporary restraining order against Matthew D. Sitarski, who until recently worked at a bank branch in Ann Arbor, Mich. When he left, Sitarski worked with approximately 250 families with approximately $132 million in assets under management.
According to the complaint filed in Michigan federal court, Sitarski left JP Morgan on Jan. 31 and joined Raymond James later that day. The bank accused him of soliciting at least 10 former customers almost immediately. One client said Sitarski pushed him to transfer his account to Raymond James so the adviser could continue working with him.
Another customer told the bank that she received a call on her cell phone from Sitarski asking her to do the same and meet him for a date, which she declined.
“The client also informed JPMorgan that Sitarski had 'reduced' the experience of JPMorgan's Private Client Counsel who had been assigned to the client after Sitarski resigned (who had been with JPMorgan since 2016),” the complaint said.
But Sitarski's allegedly had some success in luring customers, according to the lawsuit; about six families with assets totaling about $3.9 million have already left for Raymond James.
Raymond James did not respond to requests for comment on the complaint.
In the filing, lawyers for JP Morgan warned of consequences if the court did not grant the TRO.
“Unless (Sitarski's) misconduct is stopped and enjoined immediately, other competitors of JPMorgan will be encouraged to engage in the same type of misconduct with complete impunity, the result of which will cause serious and permanently for JPMorgan,” the complaint said.
Sitarski joined JP Morgan in November 2007, starting on the banking side. He entered the securities side of the business as an associate financial advisor in 2010 and became an advisor two years later.
At the end of his time at the bank, Sitarski was a private client advisor. According to the complaint, the bank referred hundreds of its customers to Sitarski to offer investment opportunities. The bank did not expect Sitarski to call customers.
Through his employment, Sitarski allegedly had access to what JP Morgan considered confidential information in client files, including “client identity, address, telephone numbers, transaction history, tax information, personal information financial, banking information and investment objectives”. They also alleged that all of Sitraski's contacts in his consulting business were pre-existing bank clients referred or assigned to him.
JP Morgan also alleged that Sitarski signed several non-solicitation agreements during his tenure, barring him from soliciting clients for a year after his employment at JP Morgan ended. The contracts required Sitarski not to use or retain confidential bank information if he resigned.
The Sitarski lawsuit isn't the first time JP Morgan has accused a former adviser of breaking their deals. In January, JP Morgan sued Nader Joseph Al-Mooshi, a former bank branch advisor who left for Kestra last fall. The bank accused him of bleeding the bank $40 million in assets by soliciting bank customers and using proprietary customer information.
last fall, JP Morgan made similar allegations v. Daniel Sutton, a Fla.-based counselor. who left the bank for the Commonwealth.
JP Morgan previously stated that bank branch advisors like Sitarski, al-Mooshi and Sutton do not fall under the protection of the Intermediary Recruiting Protocol, created in 2004 to provide advisers with greater flexibility (and less legal risk) when seeking clients after moving between asset management firms. wealth.
The bank claims that these protections extend only to representatives registered with the division of JP Morgan Advisors with the titles “wealth adviser” or “wealth partner”.