Mercer Sues Ex-Employee Over Alleged Client Data Theft
Mercer Global Advisors is suing a former employee, alleging she stole confidential client information in their move to a competitor and that the promises she’d abide by employment agreements with Mercer were “completely hollow.”
Mercer filed the suit in Missouri state court this week against Jeannie Seabaugh and Brand Asset Management Group, where Mercer claims Seaburgh now works. Mercer alleged the firm had lost about $23 million in client assets since Seaburgh changed employers.
“What Seabaugh failed to share upon providing her notice was that not only would she be working for a competing company in the exact same geographic territory where she worked for Mercer, but also that she had taken Mercer trade secret and proprietary information to solicit Mercer clients and to unfairly compete against Mercer,” the complaint read.
According to the suit, in early 2022, Mercer acquired Convergent, a Missouri-based wealth management firm that Seabaugh co-founded with John P. Stobbs; the acquisition included the firm’s client lists, relationships and other related trade secrets.
As a result, Seabaugh received “considerable compensation” and joined Mercer as a senior wealth advisor, with access to allegedly “high-value” trade secrets. The firm claimed Seabaugh signed agreements protecting Mercer’s client information and committed to a non-solicitation agreement that would last for two years after the end of her employment.
According to Mercer, on May 11, Seabaugh told a supervisor she would resign in a month, allegedly to care for an ailing family member, and would not continue working as an advisor.
But Mercer alleged that on May 6 at about 10:30 p.m., Seabaugh emailed the client lists to her personal Gmail account. The lists allegedly included client identities, investment values, portfolios and investment strategies, among other information.
Afterward, Mercer claimed Seabaugh began working for Brand AMG, a Chesterfield, Mo., firm that works with business owners, affluent families, corporate executives and physicians, among others, according to its website. As of now, Seabaugh is still not registered with any firm.
Brand AMG was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1992 and, according to its Form ADV, managed about $1.14 billion in client assets as of December.
According to a Mercer spokesperson, the firm filed the suit “alleging multiple breaches of contractual and legal obligations, including the misappropriation of highly confidential and trade secret information. Mercer Advisors takes these matters seriously and is aggressively pursuing all available legal remedies to hold the responsible parties accountable.”
Representatives from Brand AMG did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.
Last May, Mercer sued two former employees, accusing them of an “unlawful scheme” to solicit Mercer clients after the duo left to form their own RIA. The case is still ongoing.
Several years earlier, Mercer sued ACG Wealth and its founders, alleging they’d violated the parties’ asset purchase agreement and failed to ensure that key personnel also moved. The parties agreed to dismiss the case late last year.
