UBS Seeks TRO Against Wells Fargo Team Who Sent Video Message to Clients

Posted on March 30th, 2022 at 2:23 PM
UBS Seeks TRO Against Wells Fargo Team Who Sent Video Message to Clients

From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law:

UBS Wealth Management is seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) against two former advisors who recently joined Wells Fargo and allegedly sent a video message to solicit their former clients. 

While UBS seeks to bar the Wells 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 Wells Fargo. In the video, the duo, Travis Luebbehusen and Melanie Avery, discuss their impending move to Wells 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 Wells 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. 

Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, regulatory and disciplinary matters.

 
 

Tags: eccleston law, ubs wealth management, wells fargo

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