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A Colorado-based private wealth firm is suing two of its former employees and Cerity Partners, alleging that the duo solicited clients and took client information in breach of their employment contracts.
In the suit filed in Arizona federal court, BOK Financial Private Wealth sued former advisor (and president) Eric Holt and former client service manager Ashleigh Zielinski (and their spouses), as well as Cerity.
BOK Financial claims in the suit that clients with as much as $1.2 billion in assets under management followed Holt and Zielinski to Cerity, which would be a massive loss for the firm. (According to SEC records, BOK Financial manages about $3.72 billion in assets.)
According to the suit, Holt joined BOK in October 2018 after the firm acquired his Colorado practice; he eventually became a president of the firm and an advisor out of its Scottsdale/Phoenix office, which allegedly granted him "unlimited access" to the firm's proprietary information.
Zielinski joined in 2023 to coordinate Holt's client relationships; both employees allegedly signed non-solicitation and client data confidentiality agreements and collectively managed about $1.8 billion in assets, generating $5 million in annual revenue.
BOK Financial stated that in the summer, Holt prepared to jump ship for Cerity and used a BOK-financed business trip to "lay the groundwork" to transfer.
In one case, Holt allegedly visited a $400 million client in Omaha, Neb., and that client became one of the first to follow him to Cerity. However, the plaintiffs alleged that Cerity began recruiting Holt and Zielinski before the business trips.
In August, Holt gave his required 30-day resignation notice, but BOK Financial stated he continued to solicit clients to move (in one case, the firm learned Holt planned a golf outing with a client who subsequently moved their business to Cerity).
Zielinski had already allegedly resigned without notice in August, and BOK Financial stated Holt recruited her to move to Cerity with him. The firm also stated Cerity "aided, abetted and facilitated" the duo's alleged breaches of their contracts and, to date, has received transfer paperwork for more than 20 client relationships totaling about $1.2 billion.
Representatives from Cerity did not return a request for comment prior to publication.
In a separate lawsuit alleging similar violations, Cetera is suing a former advisor for allegedly breaching their employment agreements by launching a new firm affiliated with &Partners.
The suit filed in federal court in New York by Cetera targets Michelle Lee, a former employee. According to SEC records, Lee joined the industry in 1993 and registered with Avantax in 2019. Cetera later acquired that firm's wealth business, and recently combined it with The Retirement Planning Group to create Cetera Planning Partners, a $19 billion national employee RIA.
As the acquisition unfolded, Lee allegedly left Cetera to launch Sapphire Compass Advisors, a New Jersey-based firm affiliated with &Partners. Cetera alleges Lee recruited two other advisors to leave Cetera with her, and that she is bound by two-year non-compete and non-solicitation restrictions.
According to Cetera, Lee "has solicited the very clients" she worked with at Cetera, including a section on her website that is addressed to clients she worked with during that period who have questions about moving their accounts to Sapphire.
Additionally, Cetera stated that Lee transferred client information from business to personal accounts in advance of her resignation, including "an account-list export, investment-model and model-allocation information, client account statements and detailed transaction information."
To date, Cetera stated clients with about $150 million in managed assets followed Lee and the team.
Officials from &Partners did not return a request for comment prior to publication.
