Allstate: Ameriprise is stealing our agents, client information
"Ameriprise's actions have been so blatant and outrageous that Ameriprise has encouraged [salespeople] to lie to [Allstate] about their theft of ... confidential information," Allstate claims in the lawsuit filed earlier this year.
In a recent court filing, Ameriprise denied the allegations, claiming that many of the confidential documents identified by Allstate are readily available to "anyone with a computer, car or phone or access to the court."
Amerprise declined to say how many of the 2,000 advisers it's hired since 2011 were recruited from Allstate.
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The companies are both leaders in financial services. Allstate, with about 12,000 agents, sells insurance to 16 million households in the
In the lawsuit, Allstate claims that Ameriprise is soliciting its salespeople "on a national scale." Allstate declined to say how many of its agents have been recruited by Ameriprise, but the company said in the lawsuit that it has documented the solicitation of its agents in
Allstate claims that agents who defect to Ameriprise have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars through signing bonuses, which were calculated using purloined revenue figures contained in confidential sales documents, according to the lawsuit.
In an affidavit filed with the court this month, an Allstate agent in
"As part of our conversations,
Allstate said such reports include an agent's business volume, the types of products sold and the names of customers -- all of which is considered confidential by the company.
Schmidt, who still works at Allstate, said he refused the request. He said Ameriprise was not deterred and has continued to contact him every two months in an effort to persuade him to jump ship.
Allstate said Ameriprise had better luck with two of its agents in
In its filing, Ameriprise denied asking any Allstate agents to steal confidential documents or to lie about the removal of any company documents.
Allstate also claims that Ameriprise has persuaded defectors to provide its competitor with some of the company's "most sensitive" information, including commission structures, incentive programs, sales quotas and other confidential information contained in a supplement to the company's standard agent agreement. Allstate said Ameriprise is using the supplement in its recruitment campaign.
In its answer to the lawsuit, Ameriprise acknowledged receiving a copy of the supplement, but it maintains the document is "publicly available" and that the company "did not know the full substance of the supplement" before receiving it.
"With regard to the litigation brought by Allstate, we believe it's without merit and are defending ourselves vigorously," McClung said in the statement.
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