MountainOne Bank Alleges Top Employees Stole Personal Client Data, Built Secret Rival Firm
The bank says they found digital evidence of exactly how the data was stolen.
MountainOne Bank has filed a sweeping civil complaint in Berkshire Superior Court accusing three of its longtime financial advisors of secretly building a competing investment firm while still on the bank’s payroll. The allegations include theft of confidential customer information, breach of fiduciary duty, and a coordinated “raid” on staff and clients. Six employees named in the complaint resigned from their positions en masse on October 3.
The North Adams-based bank filed the verified complaint November 4. It alleges that advisors Robert G. Abel, Jason R. Dohaney, and James E. Durand—all senior members of MountainOne Investments “conspired” with Green River Financial Services, a newly formed firm they now manage, and national brokerage Kestra Investment Services to improperly acquire and use sensitive customer data belonging to MountainOne. All defendants are accused of using that information to solicit nearly the entire MountainOne Investments customer base immediately after quitting.
“Client trust and protecting client data is the most important part of this,” MountainOne president and CEO Robert Fraser told RI in an exclusive interview. “We will not tolerate any current or former employees violating our company policies.
On November 10 iBerkshires published a business article announcing the launch of Green River and interviewed Abel. He did not mention the lawsuit but had this to say in reference to approaching clients about the new venture: "When we moved, we were able to reach out to clients, tell them what we're doing, and again, most importantly, tell them that they had a choice to make, and it was their choice."
MountainOne contends that Green River was only able to “reach out” to those clients because the former employees had stolen the bank’s privileged information.
“MountainOne is a very financially strong company,” Fraser said when asked if he has concerns about customer confidence after the scandal. “We are very well capitalized and have a strong operating performance that exceeds many of our peers. So our clients and customers should feel a lot of comfort in doing business with us.”
The six Green River Financial team members, and former MountainOne staff implicated in the complaint. Image from Green River's website.
Take the Clients and Their Money and Run (Allegedly)
MountainOne Investments, which operates offices in Williamstown, North Adams, and Pittsfield, is described in the complaint as a “highly regarded” advisory firm that has grown its portfolio over 28 years. Abel, Dohaney, and Durand were among its top earners. Abel alone received more than $1.1 million in compensation in 2024, the complaint states.
All three began their investment-advising careers at MountainOne’s predecessor firm, True North Financial Services, and managed hundreds of millions in customer assets, according to the lawsuit. Each, the bank says, had full access to sensitive personal and financial information belonging to all of MountainOne clients.
The complaint alleges that beginning in the summer, the three advisors “secretly set up” Green River Financial Services while still employed at MountainOne. At the same time, they allegedly coordinated with Kestra Investment Services, Green River’s chosen broker-dealer, to prepare systems, accounts, and onboarding processes needed for the new firm to immediately compete with MountainOne.
Along with potentially breaking state and federal law, the complaint contends that the defendants violated multiple internal MountainOne policies, including its code of ethics, technology acceptable use policy, and customer information security policy.
The Zoom is Coming from Inside the Bank
According to the bank, the advisors enlisted three MountainOne support staff, Seth Shepard, Kellie Corey, and Sue O’Neil, to perform work related to the launch of Green River during MountainOne business hours.
Among the specific allegations are that O’Neil participated in two Kestra-run account management training sessions via Zoom while sitting in a MountainOne office. Corey was allegedly instructed to print confidential customer account reports and lists of pending customer tasks (documents the bank says were then removed from the office). And Shepard allegedly downloaded customer lists and account numbers on October 2, one day before the mass resignation.
A Cloud of Secrets
A central allegation in the case involves a cloud folder created around August. According to the complaint, the advisors and staff uploaded extensive confidential MountainOne customer data to this folder, including: Complete client lists, bank account numbers and balances, dates of birth, investment portfolios, income information, and the entire Mountainoneinvestments.com email mailboxes for each advisor and staff member.
The filing says these uploads occurred surreptitiously and in violation of federal law, state privacy law, and MountainOne’s internal security policies.
On October 3, at 8:30 am, all three advisors and the three support staff resigned without notice, according to the complaint. MountainOne alleges that immediately afterward, the advisors, now affiliated with Kestra, used the downloaded data to contact MountainOne customers via email, telephone, mail, and other means “in an effort to persuade MountainOne Customers to move their business to Green River.”
The Goat Bites Back
MountainOne is asking the court to order all defendants to return all confidential information, and award damages and treble damages, which prohibits unfair or deceptive business practices and grant injunctions. The bank argues that the alleged actions caused “immediate, irreparable, and tremendous harm,” including erosion of customer goodwill.
All allegations described in the complaint remain unproven, and no defendant has yet filed a response in court. All information in this article is drawn directly from the Verified Complaint filed by MountainOne Bank in Berkshire Superior Court on November 4.
