UBS Seeks TRO Against ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ïlls Fargo Team Who Sent Video Message to Clients
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï:
UBS ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ïalth Management is seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) against two former advisors who recently joined ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ïlls Fargo and allegedly sent a video message to solicit their former clients.
While UBS seeks to bar the ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ïlls Fargo duo from soliciting their former clients for several reasons, the TRO is rather unique because it emphasizes a video message that the two advisors sent to numerous clients the same night they joined ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ïlls Fargo. In the video, the duo, Travis Luebbehusen and Melanie Avery, discuss their impending move to ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ïlls Fargo, adding that Luebbehusen will be contacting “each one of you” in the coming days. UBS alleges that the timing of the video, which was released on the same day as the duo’s resignation, “strongly suggests” that the duo misappropriated confidential client information and provided it to ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ïlls Fargo.
According to UBS, the actions of Luebbehusen and Avery were governed by strict non-solicitation and confidentiality provisions, in part because the duo had acquired a “substantial” book of business upon joining UBS from former advisor Susan Brandt, who “voluntarily separated from active employment” with the firm in 2019. In 2017, UBS withdrew from the Protocol for Broker Recruiting, which is an industry agreement that permits advisors to retain certain client information, as well as solicit and do business with their former clients when transitioning between member firms. Luebbehusen and Avery generated $4.1 million in trailing-12 (T-12) monthly revenue from $427 million in client assets at UBS.
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