JPMorgan is asking a federal court to issue a restraining order against a former advisor who left for Wells Fargo but allegedly continues to solicit clients, violating contracts with his former employer.
Wells Fargo is also central to another federal suit filed this week. A former client services associate claims the bank ignored continued harassment and mistreatment by one of its so-called “greatest rainmakers.”
JP Morgan’s call for a temporary restraining order concerns Kevin Rossow, who joined JPMorgan in March 2012 as a relationship banker. In late 2021, he became a Private Client Advisor at a bank branch in Longview, Texas, according to the complaint filed in a Texas federal court.
The firm claimed Rossow worked with clients referred by the branch to build relationships and wasn’t expected to source new business independently of these referrals. JPMorgan claimed Rossow signed an agreement prohibiting him from soliciting firm clients for a year after he left or was fired.
However, on July 12, Rossow left JPMorgan and joined Wells Fargo while continuing to operate out of Longview. According to the suit, Rossow immediately began soliciting clients from his former firm.
Clients allegedly began telling JPMorgan reps about phone calls from Rossow. In one case Rossow allegedly falsely claimed there was no longer an advisor in his former branch. Rossow requested a meeting with another client, telling her he could “make her money grow better” if she moved her accounts to Wells Fargo.
“The client informed JPMorgan that what Rossow said to her was 'sneaky,' and was visibly upset about her interaction with Rossow,” the complaint read.
According to the suit, several other clients reported similar interactions, with some saying Rossow was continuing to reach out to them as recently as a few days ago. JPMorgan estimated that about 16 households with assets exceeding $13 million have already moved to Wells Fargo.
However, the firm alleged that Rossow wouldn’t have had access to all of these clients’ contact information and would not have been able to call those clients after he resigned without “misappropriating” client information.
JPMorgan accused him of accessing confidential client files in the weeks before his resignation; on June 25, they claimed Rossow accessed about 60 profiles in the firm’s central program in one day, about 20 of them “in rapid succession” over about 30 minutes.
The firm argued that Rossow took client information (including contact information) from JPMorgan, either by taking photos of the profiles, memorizing the information, or through some other means, and brought it to Wells Fargo. A spokesperson for the firm said Wells Fargo had nothing to add.
Former Wells Associate Alleges Mistreatment
Wells Fargo is the subject of a separate suit in which a former client associate claims she was subjected to years-long mistreatment by a preeminent advisor while the bank allegedly stood by.
In the suit filed in Florida federal court, Dinah Mirson claims that she began working at Wachovia in its Palm Beach County office around May 2008 (Wells Fargo later purchased the bank). However, around Nov. 2012, Mirson began supporting Jeffrey Bowman, who managed about $820 million in client assets, according to the suit.
“From nearly the first day working with Mr. Bowman, it became clear that he exercised his power and control over Ms. Mirson,” the complaint read. “As a successful banker in a male-dominated industry, and because Ms. Mirson is a woman, from the outset of working with Mr. Bowman, he treated Ms. Mirson in a manner that was significantly different than how he treated his male colleagues and subordinates.”
Bowman allegedly “evolved” from a demanding but tolerable demeanor to “managing through intimidation, harassment, condescension, threats and the future promise of money,” according to the suit. Mirson also claimed Bowman had a “well-known” reputation for mistreating female co-workers.
According to Mirson, in 2019, she had a recurrence of her Crohn’s disease and colitis after years “without serious incident,” which her doctors attributed to workplace stress. At around the start of the pandemic in 2020, Mirson told the bank she wanted to work part-time or pursue disability leave or early retirement. Still, supervisors at the bank allegedly convinced her to continue working remotely.
But according to Mirson, the mistreatment continued.
“It was well known among the female employees at the Bank….that they should avoid Mr. Bowman because he treated female subordinates in this manner,” the complaint read. “However, nothing was done to stop or rectify his discriminatory mistreatment of women.”
AdvisorHub first reported the suit, which also reported that Bowman died in 2023. A Wells Fargo spokesperson said the firm was "reviewing the complaint" with no further comment at this time.
Mirson said this mistreatment came in cycles, where Bowman would allegedly degrade Mirson only to apologize and laud her work, with the pattern repeating itself. Mirson eventually took a medical leave of absence and said that she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in addition to her chronic disease.
Bowman’s alleged verbal abuse continued while Mirson was on medical leave, leading her to complain to the bank formally. She believed the bank didn’t take any steps towards a substantive investigation and argued that it wasn’t surprising that Wells Fargo ignored Bowman’s alleged behavior, saying that “he was one of the Bank’s largest rainmakers.”
But according to Mirson, she learned on Aug. 19 (while still on medical leave) that she’d be fired effective Aug. 30. She’s now suing for lost future wages and compensatory and punitive damages.
