Ameriprise Financial Services is suing LPL Financial and three former advisors, alleging they took confidential client information and improperly solicited clients after joining LPL.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Arizona, claims the advisors—who resigned on January 27 and immediately joined LPL—engaged in misconduct both before and after their departure. Ameriprise asserts that LPL not only supported but encouraged these actions.
LPL recently announced the recruitment of Jackson/Roskelley Wealth Advisors, led by Jared Roskelley and Kyle Robertson, stating the team had managed approximately $345 million in advisory, brokerage, and retirement-plan assets at Ameriprise. Neither LPL nor the advisors have commented on the lawsuit.
According to Ameriprise, the advisors began soliciting clients before leaving the firm. In their final days, they allegedly printed 8,887 pages of confidential documents containing client names, account details, investment holdings, beneficiary information, and children’s Social Security numbers. The firm claims these records included detailed Excel spreadsheets summarizing high-net-worth clients’ financial information.
Ameriprise is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction while pursuing an arbitration claim through Finra.
This isn’t the first legal battle between the two firms. Last July, Ameriprise sued LPL, accusing it of encouraging departing brokers to take sensitive client data. That case was resolved in December, establishing a process for identifying and deleting data related to Ameriprise clients who didn’t transition to LPL.
In this new lawsuit, Ameriprise alleges that the advisors knowingly violated their contractual obligations with LPL’s support. The firm claims LPL routinely encourages recruits to breach agreements with their former employers.
The lawsuit includes multiple allegations, such as breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, and unfair competition. Ameriprise also argues the advisors violated the Broker Protocol, an industry agreement meant to regulate broker transitions.
Ameriprise is pushing for swift legal action to prevent further misuse of client data as the case moves forward.
