Recruiter wars: celebrity broker defects.(Merrill Lynch and Company Inc. stays in touch with the clients after John T. Fitzpatrick leaves)(Brief Article)

Research, January, 2005 by Martin, Robert Scott

MERRILL LYNCH is fighting once again to keep clients from following a departing broker out the door, but in this case, one of the accounts in question happens to belong to Jack Welch.

Welch's broker, John T. Fitzpatrick, recently returned to UBS, where he worked (back when it was PaineWebber) before joining Merrill in 1996. He was reportedly ranked in the top 30 Merrill brokers in terms of production, generating around $5 million a year on a total book of over $1 billion, and absorbed several of Martha Stewart broker Peter Bacanovic's clients when his downfall left them financially orphaned.

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In the past, Merrill (or any bulge bracket firm in the same situation) would have filed a restraining order on Fitzpatrick to...

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