Mercer Global Advisors has filed a motion to enforce a subpoena from Capital City Club, a social club in Atlanta, in a case the RIA filed against former firm advisors last year. Mercer says Capital City failed to respond to a subpoena seeking documents related to the advisors' activities at the club.
Late last year, Mercer filed a suit against ACG Wealth, a firm it acquired in 2021, and its founders, Jeffrey T. Shaver and Joseph “Jody” Young. The suit alleges they violated the asset purchase agreement, failing to ensure the retention of key personnel, “instead apparently taking the money from the sale and heading to the golf course, specifically Capital City Club,” Mercer claims. The firm withheld a portion of their earnout due to the alleged underperformance.
Mercer also claimed the two violated their employment agreements with the RIA, saying they didn’t respond to email messages, regularly sign on to the company’s computer systems, nor attend required meetings and trainings. They also failed to respond to company executives and bring in new clients or advisors.
The subpoena includes 12 requests for production from Capital City, including the men’s visits to the club, charges incurred at the establishment's restaurant or bar and even golf scores.
A spokesperson for Capital City did not return a request for comment prior to publication, nor did an attorney representing Mercer.
“In our opinion, this is just Mercer trying to publicly discredit Mr. Shaver and Mr. Young by intrusively trying to get information about them, their family, being members of these clubs,” said Scott M. Ratchick, an attorney at Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry representing Shaver and Young.
ACG, Shaver and Young filed counterclaims in excess of $7 million, including claims that Mercer violated the asset purchase agreement and wrongful termination.
“We claim that our clients Jeff Shaver and Jody Young were wrongfully terminated from employment and also that Mercer has improperly withheld over $1 million on a frivolous ‘indemnity claim’ that has no merit whatsoever,” Ratchick said. “Mercer is doing that just to damage our clients.”
“They took actions intended to cause our clients not to earn a substantial earn-out payment,” he added. “In particular, they took actions to cause one or more brokers not to transition over to Mercer. As a result, a substantial amount of assets under management did not move.”
Young and Shaver launched their state-registered investment advisor this year, 34 Financial, in Watkinsville, Ga., according to regulatory filings.