LPL Adds $725M JPMorgan Broker As Bank Seeks TRO

LPL Financial has recruited a bank-based advisor who managed $725 million at JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to an announcement on Thursday, one day after the bank sued the advisor over allegations that he improperly solicited customers. Alan C. Feutz, who is based in Deerfield, Illinois, joined Genesis Wealth, a practice affiliated with LPL, on June 18, according to his BrokerCheck and LPL’s announcement. The move appears to have turned into another increasingly routine legal battle that brokers face when leaving JPMorgan’s bank channel. In its complaint filed on Wednesday in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois, JPMorgan alleged that Feutz retained confidential client contact information and used it to encourage clients to move assets to LPL in violation of non-solicitation agreements. The bank alleged that he called former clients on their personal cell phones and told at least one customer that LPL has “a lot more investment choices” than JPMorgan, according to the complaint, which was filed by JPMorgan’s broker-dealer, J.P. Morgan Securities. Another client allegedly said Feutz told her that her fees would stay the same if she moved her accounts to him, according to JPMorgan, which also claimed that clients with at least $146 million have transferred their accounts to him at LPL. JPMorgan is seeking the TRO along with a parallel claim in Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration for damages. James V. Garvey of Vedder in Chicago, who represents Feutz, said the bank’s “allegations against Mr. Feutz are unfounded,” and that he will defend against them “vigorously.” “We are confident that he will prevail after a full vetting of the facts before a FINRA Dispute Resolution arbitration panel, just as we have prevailed on behalf of other clients who have had to endure JPMS’ anticompetitive conduct by bringing claims of this type,” Garvey added. JPMorgan has pursued dozens of defecting bank-based brokers in recent months, and in June it persuaded a New York state court to issue a temporary restraining order barring two brokers from soliciting firm clients. A spokesperson for LPL did not respond to a request for comment. In Thursday’s announcement, Feutz touted the “scale and operational strength” of LPL. “Coming from a bank environment, the safety and security of client assets were extremely important considerations,” Feutz said. Feutz started his career with Dean Witter Reynolds in 1999 and worked at three other firms before moving to JPMorgan’s Chase Investment Services Corp. in 2005, according to BrokerCheck. His BrokerCheck record includes one settled customer dispute. In 2022, a customer alleged that a deferred sales charge on a mutual fund was not disclosed. JPMorgan settled it for the nearly $41,000 requested and did not ask Feutz to contribute, according to BrokerCheck. Just like ants crawling back and forth between each other’s ant hill. Classic JPMorgan tactic to deter other advisors on the fence about leaving (and there are many). The message they want to portray: “We own you, your clients, and your practice!”. How can anyone work under this structure? They do own the bank advisor’s clients. The advisors never prospected for one client, they were fed leads from the bank. The employees should read the non-solicitation contracts they willingly sign. Must be a market director at JPMorgan … This seems to be the standard playbook every time a JPM advisor leaves. I’ve seen similar cases over the past several years, and many ultimately end up in FINRA arbitration after the initial headlines. At the end of the day, clients will decide who they want to work with, and that’s what matters most.