Citi: Advisor Improperly Lured Clients to Move Millions to Wells Fargo

What You Need to Know

The bank is pursuing a case against the advisor, who it says induced 16 households to move assets.
The advisor violated his employment agreement and Citi offer letter, a complaint alleges.
Michael Fowler denies the allegations, his lawyer says.

Citibank has accused Michael K. Fowler, a recently resigned senior wealth advisor, of improperly soliciting clients to follow him to Wells Fargo and is pursuing a case against him before industry arbitrators and in court. The firm contends that his efforts have resulted in clients transferring over $13 million in assets.

Citibank, along with Citigroup Global Markets, alleged in a federal court complaint last week that Fowler violated his Citi offer letter and employment contract’s non-solicitation and confidentiality provisions by trying to induce over a dozen clients to join him at competitor Wells Fargo Clearing Services.

Citi and Fowler, who also had been a Citi vice president, agreed in court this week to a proposed order to temporarily restrain and enjoin him from soliciting his former clients pending a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration. The agreement wouldn’t stop Citi clients from transferring their accounts to Fowler at Wells Fargo.

“Unfortunately, it appears that (Fowler’s) improper solicitation efforts have proven successful, as approximately 16 clients/households with assets in excess of $13 million already have transferred their accounts from Citi to Fowler at Wells Fargo,” Citi’s complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia says.

When he resigned Sept. 5, Fowler serviced about 304 families, or relationships, at Citi, with assets under management totaling about $171 million, the complaint states. He immediately started a job with Wells Fargo, the suit notes.

Citi alleges that Fowler, who worked in Citi Personal Wealth Management in Reston, Virginia, improperly solicited Citi clients to follow him to Wells Fargo and took with him and used confidential client information.

Over a dozen Citi clients have informed the financial institution that Fowler’s communications “have been more than simply announcing his change of employment, and that he is actively seeking to induce them to do business with him at Wells Fargo,” the complaint alleges.