{"id":654227,"date":"2026-05-07T18:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/654227\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T18:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:10:15","slug":"judge-blocks-review-of-advisors-devices-in-lpl-ameriprise-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/654227\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Blocks Review of Advisors’ Devices in LPL\/Ameriprise Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

A judge overseeing\u00a0the ongoing LPL Financial\/Ameriprise legal battle<\/a>\u00a0ruled that the advisors at the center of the dispute, who left Ameriprise for LPL, don\u2019t have to submit their personal devices to a \u201cforensic review\u201d for allegedly stolen client data.<\/p>\n

In the order this week, Judge Jinsook Ohta wrote that arbitration hearings on the merits of the accusations about Ameriprise\u2019s client data are scheduled for Oct. 6. As a result,\u00a0she\u00a0argued that while the court first agreed to a forensic search to \u201cpreserve the status quo\u201d by isolating any information on the advisors\u2019 devices and creating a forensic copy, the arbitration\u2019s date in several months makes the point moot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court therefore no longer finds it equitable to impose a forensic review process\u2014agreed to only by LPL and Ameriprise\u2014on the financial advisors regarding their various electronic devices,\u201d Ohta wrote, ordering that mandate for a \u201cforensic review, imaging and deletion of disputed client information\u201d from advisors\u2019 personal devices be excised.<\/p>\n

Related:Cambridge Hires Moody\u2019s Executive to Lead BridgePort RIA<\/a><\/p>\n

Ameriprise initially\u00a0filed a lawsuit against LPL Financial in the summer of 2024<\/a>, alleging that LPL directed recruits leaving Ameriprise for the IBD to take client information, subjecting them to \u201cregulatory, and in some cases, even criminal exposure,\u201d in a \u201cwidespread\u201d misuse of client information. LPL responded by accusing Ameriprise of \u201cremarkable hypocrisy,\u201d while touting its support for advisors\u2019 rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ameriprise argued that the advisors who left should have their personal devices reviewed for allegedly stolen client data, and LPL and Ameriprise agreed to have a third-party forensic examiner investigate the claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, some advisors objected, arguing they were never party to the agreements between the firms. LPL supported the advisors\u2019 opposition, while Ameriprise claimed the advisors were coordinating with LPL to \u201ceither delay or disrupt\u201d the agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ohta originally struck down the advisors\u2019 attempt to intervene in the case to pause the data review, but the decision was overturned in a federal appeals court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the appeal, some advisors at the heart of the case called for Ohta to compel arbitration and stay the case, while LPL simultaneously submitted a motion to amend the stipulated order to remove the personal device search requirement (which Ameriprise opposed). With Ohta partially affirming LPL\u2019s request this week, the judge ruled the other two motions as moot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the order, Ohta also noted that the arbitration proceedings had continued apace. When LPL and Ameriprise first agreed to the forensic searches, the firms were the only parties listed in the arbitration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related:Q&A: Focus’s Travis Danysh on the Shift from Deal Volume to Scale<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, Ohta wrote, Ameriprise has added, \u201call 30 financial advisors\u201d affected by the forensic search order to the arbitration and \u201cis in the process of pursuing relief against them directly in the arbitral forum\u201d (although Ohta noted that Ameriprise had dropped nine advisors from the arbitration proceedings).<\/p>\n

Ameriprise declined to comment, and LPL did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, an attorney representing LPL Financial responded to a court request asking that the firm delete both an Excel spreadsheet with client information, as well as the \u201cunderlying data for individuals listed on the Bulk Upload Tool who did not become LPL customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bulk Upload Tool\u00a0was at the center of a since-dropped aspect<\/a>\u00a0of the lawsuit, in which LPL claimed Ameriprise had defamed the former firm by alleging clients\u2019 data had been breached in some advisors\u2019 move to LPL. Ameriprise had called for LPL to ensure that any non-LPL client data was entirely scrubbed from their systems.<\/p>\n

According to the attorney, LPL deleted both the spreadsheet and the underlying data for customers whose information was provided to LPL but did not become LPL customers. The firm began the process in January of last year, and the data deletions were concluded earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Related:Raymond James to Expand Managed Investment Options for Advisors<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLPL believes that all deletions are complete and does not expect that any additional work is necessary; however, if LPL were to learn of additional information, it would delete such information, after copy and segregation, in accordance with the requirements of the Stipulated Order and the process outlined in this declaration,\u201d the attorney wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A judge overseeing\u00a0the ongoing LPL Financial\/Ameriprise legal battle\u00a0ruled that the advisors at the center of the dispute, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-654227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}