JPMorgan is suing a Chicago-based former financial institution department advisor, accusing her of breaking non-solicitation vows and taking confidential data to Morgan Stanley.
J.P. Morgan Securities filed its go well with in Illinois federal court docket Friday requesting a brief restraining order towards Yahaira Felix. The go well with asks that she be barred from soliciting former JPMorgan shoppers whereas FINRA arbitration proceedings play out.
Based on the lawsuit, Felix began at JPMorgan Chase in 2009 as a relationship banker however switched to being a monetary advisor in 2013. She left for a quick stint at BLANK earlier than rejoining JPMorgan in 2015, ultimately changing into a non-public consumer advisor at a JPMorgan financial institution department on the John Hancock Heart in Chicago.
Based on JPMorgan, “nearly all” of Felix’s shoppers throughout this time had been pre-existing JPMorgan ones assigned or referred to her, alleging that half have been JPMorgan shoppers for over 20 years.
“However for her employment with JPMorgan, Felix wouldn’t have had any contact with nearly any of the shoppers the agency assigned to her and whom she is now soliciting,” the go well with states.
JPMorgan additionally alleged Felix signed an settlement prohibiting her from utilizing the agency’s data to contact shoppers or soliciting JPMorgan shoppers for a 12 months after ending her employment there. Throughout her tenure, JPMorgan alleged she might entry “extremely confidential” consumer recordsdata, together with names, addresses, monetary information and funding targets.
Within the days earlier than resigning, Felix “engaged in extremely suspicious entry” to some consumer profiles, in response to JPMorgan. The agency alleged that on Feb. 24 (three days earlier than she resigned), Felix accessed about 27 consumer/prospect profiles between 5:45 p.m. and three:10 a.m.
On Feb. 26, she accessed practically 40 profiles, usually just one to a few minutes aside. JPMorgan believed Felix took images or copied the data within the recordsdata to make use of at Morgan Stanley.
Morgan Stanley declined to remark for this story.
Based on the go well with, Felix continued to solicit former shoppers after her resignation. The agency mentioned it heard from a number of shoppers claiming Felix requested for conferences to induce them to affix her at Morgan Stanley.
One aged consumer mentioned Felix known as and informed him she’d obtained a promotion at “Morgan” however was nonetheless related to Chase.
“The consumer was confused by what she had mentioned as a result of it was not clear to the consumer that she had resigned from JPMorgan,” the go well with learn. “The consumer informed her that he didn’t need something to do together with her. Nevertheless, after their name, the consumer obtained an e mail from Morgan Stanley with paperwork for him to signal to maneuver his account to Morgan Stanley, which he didn’t request and was confused about.”
Earlier this month, Felix allegedly known as one other consumer and provided him a “severely discounted advisory fee” for six months and “entry” to non-public fairness. Felix reportedly informed him in her pitch that Morgan Stanley is “an funding firm first,” in comparison with JPMorgan, which “is a financial institution first.”
Nevertheless, JPMorgan claimed Felix had some success up to now, attracting about eight JPMorgan households with belongings totaling about $16.6 million to Morgan Stanley. The agency contended that with out the restraining order, “different opponents” of JPMorgan can be inspired to behave in the identical method, which the agency claimed would “inflict extreme and everlasting damages.”
