A team of financial advisors in Westlake Village, Calif., has moved their book of business to LPL Financial. Townsgate Wealth Management, which manages about $1.15 billion in client assets, joins from Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, the bank’s independent broker/dealer channel.
Townsgate was founded in 2016 and serves primarily high-net-worth individuals, families and business owners. They provide portfolio management, fixed-income analysis and retirement planning. The firm is run by advisors Jim Murray, Larry Bernstein, Abby Goldstein, Michael Kazmer, Brett Goldberg and Wesley Wong. They’re joined by administrative assistants Sarah Levi-Sickman, Joni Melickian and Claire Trentacosta.
The team spent a year conducting due diligence before deciding to move to LPL. They were attracted to LPL’s culture, reputation, systems and platform, according to Bernstein.
This follows news earlier this week that LPL added a faith-based practice from Synovus Securities. Advisors Joe Young and Ryne Stokes joined LPL’s employee channel, Linsco by LPL Financial, to launch Servant Path Wealth Partners, a Columbus, Ga.-based firm with about $400 million in assets.
LPL has been in a legal battle with Ameriprise over its recruitment of advisors. In separate lawsuits in Washington and California, the two firms are battling over advisors fleeing Ameriprise for LPL, allegedly breaching their contracts, violating the Protocol for Broker Recruiting and taking with them confidential client information.
In another lawsuit involving a trio that left Ameriprise for LPL, a federal judge in Arizona this week shot down Ameriprise’s attempt for a temporary restraining order against the former employees who left, writing that the firm’s arguments are “insufficient to show success on the merits of the claims against LPL.”