UBS Accuses Ex-Advisor of 'Brazen' Attempts to Take Clients

UBS Financial Services has sued former longtime financial advisor Douglas Jonathan Frew, alleging he violated loyalty and contractual duties by trying to transfer client assets to his new employer when he abruptly resigned last month.

Frew, who resigned and transferred his broker and advisor registrations to LPL Financial on Sept. 17, "egregiously violated" his loyalty duties and non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements "in order to try and move a significant amount of client assets" to his new firm, BroadFront Capital Management, the lawsuit contends.

UBS accuses Frew of "brazen conduct," including allegedly showing up at one client's home to tell her she needed to transfer her assets and calling another client 10 times from his personal phone. His actions caused "justifiable fear and concern among clients," the suit states.

By Sept. 27, shortly after the resignation, UBS had received requests for 33 transfers comprising $15.33 million to BroadFront for UBS clients formerly serviced by Frew or his advisory team, the complaint alleges.

Frew, now listed online as a partner and private wealth advisor at BroadFront, was introduced to those clients through his 10-year employment at UBS' branch in Red Bank, New Jersey, according to the complaint, filed on Sept. 30 in New Jersey's Superior Court, Chancery Division, in Monmouth County.

Joining UBS as a wealth planning analyst in 2014, Frew was promoted to financial advisor and later partnered as a junior advisor on a team with a more senior and experienced UBS financial advisor, Jason Feder, the suit says, noting the pair managed roughly $900 million in client assets.

"Feder introduced the overwhelming majority of the team's clients and the team's assets under management," the complaint alleges.

The suit contends Frew violated firm policies and the law in attempting to move UBS clients and their significant assets to BroadFront, including client relationships he didn't introduce and "which are legally, equitably and practically not his to take."

"Leaving nothing to chance, (Frew) spent the days leading up to his resignation working on behalf of BroadFront and LPL Financial while still employed at UBS by sending key documents to UBS clients," the suit alleges.

These included comprehensive UBS client financial plans and UBS client summary reports that would enable the advisor to "seamlessly replicate the UBS clients' investment accounts at BroadFront as quickly as possible after he resigned from UBS," it contends.

Immediately after his resignation, he started soliciting UBS clients to transfer their accounts, including those he didn't bring to the UBS team, according to the lawsuit.

"Indeed, at least one UBS client indicated that (Frew) contacted her after his resignation roughly 10 times from his personal cell phone, causing the UBS client significant concern about the status and security of her assets and accounts at UBS, and further evidencing that (he) maintained UBS client information on his personal cell phone," the suit alleges.

"Another client advised UBS that defendant showed up at her home, and told her that she 'needed' to immediately execute documents to transfer her accounts to him at BroadFront. The client subsequently informed UBS of the encounter and that, among other things, she was upset and felt defendant 'took advantage of her,'" UBS alleges.

The lawsuit also contends UBS' lawyer contacted LPL's internal counsel, "who assured UBS that defendant's conduct would be 'addressed." Frew's lawyer, answering correspondence from UBS, told the firm the advisor had complied with obligations to UBS but didn't respond to specific allegations that he possesses confidential firm information, the complaint says.

UBS claims loyalty, fiduciary duty and contract breaches, as well as tortious interference with business relationships and misappropriation of confidential information. It seeks a preliminary injunction pending a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration and an order directing Frew to return all material containing confidential firm information, among other relief.

Kenneth Reilly, BroadFront's founder and managing partner, said Tuesday the firm had no comment on the lawsuit. LPL representatives didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment, and Frew didn't respond to a LinkedIn message seeking comment.

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