JPMorgan is seeking a restraining order against a former advisor for soliciting clients to move their accounts from JPMorgan to his current employer, Wells Fargo.
Clients have told JPMorgan that the advisor, Gabriel Gomez, has called their personal phones, with one client reportedly receiving five or six calls, according to the suit.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, also requests a preliminary injunction "to maintain the status quo" pending resolution of an arbitration proceeding between JPMorgan and Gomez that is being filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
The dispute, according to the suit, arises out of the resignation of Gomez's employment with JPMorgan "and the immediate commencement of his employment with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC d/b/a Wells Fargo Advisors …, a direct competitor of JPMorgan."
Gomez resigned from JPMorgan on March 5 and immediately joined Wells Fargo.
At the time of his resignation, Gomez worked as a private client advisor in a bank branch office of JPMorgan Chase Bank, an affiliate of JPMorgan, in Sunrise, Florida.
"JPMorgan has learned that since resigning from JPMorgan and joining Wells Fargo, Defendant is soliciting JPMorgan clients to move their accounts from JPMorgan to him at Wells Fargo," the suit states.
"It appears that Defendant's improper solicitation efforts have proved successful," the suit continues, "as at least eight JPMorgan clients, with assets totaling $2.9 million, already have transferred their accounts" to Wells Fargo.
