Lawsuit accuses employees of stealing trade secrets and breaching their fiduciary duty
Wells Fargo Advisors has accused two of its former advisors of violating their contracts by soliciting clients to join them at their new firm, RBC Wealth Management.
A law suit claims that Brady Pedler and Joseph Santana, who worked at Wells Fargo as a team from 2006 until August 24, 2020 in Florida, stole trade secrets and breached their fiduciary duty after they “suddenly and without warning resigned to move to RBC,” according to the FundFire publication.
Pedler managed about $246.5 million and Santana oversaw approximately $59.4 million.
Wells Fargo alleges that the pair began soliciting its clients to move to RBC even while they were still working at Wells Fargo, according to the FundFire report, which cites the suit filed in a Florida federal court on August 28. One Wells Fargo client allegedly said that Pedler asked him to transfer his Wells Fargo account to RBC.
Wells Fargo is seeking a temporary restraining order, arguing that without one it would “suffer irreparable injury”.
Fundfire said Santana and Wells Fargo declined comment, while it was unable to reach Peddler for comment. RBC didn’t respond to its request for comment in time for publication.
