First Command Sues LPL Over Alleged Advisor Poaching

Two First Command Financial Services divisions sued LPL Financial, alleging it recruited three advisors from First Command’s Tampa, Florida office and caused them to violate their agreements with the hybrid RIA, which specializes in financial services for active-duty military clients.

In a complaint filed May 12 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, First Command Advisory Services and First Command Insurance Services said their case “arises from LPL’s repeated, intentional, and unjustified interference” with First Command contracts and business relationships with First Command advisors and clients.

Since December 2022, LPL has “affiliated with three First Command Advisors in knowing, direct violation of their Advisor Agreements with First Command,” the complaint alleges.

“Each of the First Command Advisors’ Agreements required the Advisors to provide First Command 30 days prior written notice before terminating their Agreements with First Command,” the complaint says.

But the complaint alleges that LPL, “knowing the terms of these Advisor Agreements, affiliated with each of these three First Command Advisors on the very day that the First Command Advisors provided First Command their resignation notices.”

The three First Command advisors have “repeatedly violated their Agreements with First Command, with LPL knowing and encouraging these violations and receiving benefits from these violations to the detriment and damage of First Command,” the complaint alleges.

Those “improper acts have also interfered with First Command’s business relationships with First Command’s clients and the terms of the Agreements, resulting in millions of dollars of assets moving away from First Command to LPL,” the complaint alleges.