Private Wealth Advisors, a Pennsylvania-based wealth management fee-based firm, filed a federal lawsuit accusing past employees of using the firm’s trade secrets in order to build their own new company, according to a report from the Pennsylvania Record.
The firm, which has offices in Pittsburgh and Greensburg, Pa., filed the suit against Stuart M. Miller, Daniel P. McCurry and Miller McCurry LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, according to the Record.
Private Wealth Advisors alleged that the two former employees demanded access to the firm’s client information, “as well as assets, strategies and other confidential information,” the Record reported. The firm reportedly claimed that by founding a new company, the two prior employees breached the contract they had with Private Wealth Advisors.
According to the Record, Miller was a former principal member of Private Wealth Advisor’s board, while McCurry was a former employee. According to FINRA BrokerCheck, Miller and McCurry were with the firm since 2002 and 2005, respectively. As of August 2019, they’re both registered as being employed by Miller McCurry, according to FINRA.
Private Wealth Advisors is seeking “actual and compensatory damages, attorney fees and court costs” from the defendants, arguing they created the new company to “unlawfully compete” with their prior firm, according to the Record.