Glitz and Gladwell: the infighting over prized JPMorgan wealth clients
Infighting at JPMorgan Chase over how to manage the fortune of retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez has escalated into a two-year battle within the bank, involving prominent personalities such as pop sensation Jennifer Lopez and author Malcolm Gladwell, as well as chief executive Jamie Dimon.
The tug of war has laid bare tensions inside JPMorgan, pitting the lender’s storied private bank against a wealth advisory business that was acquired as part of the 2008 purchase of Bear Stearns during the financial crisis.
At the centre of the squabble is a prominent financial adviser named Gwen Campbell. She brought along clients including Rodriguez when she joined JPMorgan from Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch division in 2020 and set up shop at JPMorgan Advisors, as the old Bear operation is now known.
The private bank ended up winning more of Rodriguez’s business by providing a loan for his acquisition of a minority stake in the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team in 2021, Campbell alleged in court filings. This was after Campbell was told that JPMorgan Advisors would not finance the loan.
Before that loan, the private bank had also switched coverage of Lopez from its West Coast team to the New York bankers who had been tasked with cultivating a relationship with Rodriguez, according to people familiar with the decision. At the time, Rodriguez and Lopez were engaged and the reassignment was made with the hope this would facilitate future business with Rodriguez, the people said.
JPMorgan declined to comment. Representatives for Lopez and Rodriguez did not respond to requests for comment.
In a letter sent to JPMorgan’s board of directors in April, seen by the FT, Campbell said that continued litigation was not her preference and that she wanted to “have the terms of my employment contract honoured”.
“If that is not possible,” Campbell wrote, “the third option is to part ways and resolve this matter in a way that reflects the value of the billion-dollar book of business that I brought to JPMorgan”.
Additional reporting by Sara Germano
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Joshua Franklin
