A Massachusetts-based advisor is suing Hightower, accusing the firm of trying to push him out of his job because of his age.
According to SEC records, Glenn Frank filed suit in Massachusetts state court last week against Hightower Holdings and Lexington Wealth Management, the firm he’s worked for since 2010. (Hightower acquired the firm in 2019 via a strategic investment.)
According to Frank’s complaint, over the past few years, Hightower “has continually ‘phased’” Frank out of working with his clients to benefit younger advisors in the firm. (Frank is 69 years old, according to the complaint.) Hightower declined to comment, citing that it doesn’t speak about pending litigation.
Frank claimed he brought about 50 of his clients to Lexington when he joined from Wells Fargo in 2010 and said his clients often followed him from firm to firm over the years. According to Frank, his clients didn’t care whose name is on the door “as long as Glenn is behind it.”
Starting in 2016, Frank cut his work hours but claimed his titles and client responsibilities stayed the same. However, in the past several years, Frank alleged Lexington began changing his role on client services teams to “member emeritus” without consulting him; in practice, the change removed Frank from having the final say about his client accounts, according to the suit.
Changes continued after Hightower acquired Lexington in 2019; in 2021, the firm removed Frank from its Investment Committee without telling him or his clients. When he learned what happened, firm leaders told Frank the change was to make room for ‘younger’ advisors on the committee, according to the suit.
According to Frank, in meetings, firm leaders discussed that Frank and the firm heads were all aging, and there was a need to “turn over the reins” to younger advisors so the firm would continue to grow.
“Mr. Frank was told that if he did not take a role subordinate to that of the younger advisors, he would be removed from his clients’ service teams completely,” the complaint read.
Frank claimed Hightower went further, allegedly telling clients that Frank was unavailable or vacationing in Florida, removing Frank from his own accounts and giving them to younger advisors at the firm without notifying Frank. Hightower also moved to cut Frank’s compensation and hours, according to the suit.
“Hightower has informed Mr. Frank that it will be up[ to the younger advisers to determine whether, and to what extent, Mr. Frank will be included in communications with his long-standing clients,” the complaint read.
Frank submitted an internal complaint with Hightower’s Human Resources Department alleging age discrimination but quickly heard back that the demotion was not deemed discrimination. In March, Frank informed the firm’s leaders he intended to file a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, according to the complaint.
Later that day, Frank alleges Hightower suspended him “purportedly because of an email that Mr. Frank sent to clients.” Frank’s attorneys declined to comment on this story.
But even if Frank wanted to leave (and if his clients wanted to join him), he argues he is constrained by Hightower’s non-solicitation covenants, which purportedly ban him from soliciting any customers for a year after he leaves the firm (including the clients he worked with before joining Lexington and subsequently Hightower).
As of now, Frank claims he is still at Lexington, though his salary is cut in half with Hightower continuing to “restrict and impede his interactions with his own clients.” As a part of the suit, he’s seeking an injunction to stop Hightower from enforcing its non-solicitation and restrictive covenant agreements.