Ohio-based advisor James Hyre claims the firm misled him to obtain his “assets under management at a steep discount through fraud, weaponized termination, restrictive covenants and character assassination.”
An Ohio-based advisor is claiming Mariner Wealth Advisors reneged on promises after buying his business, which he argued was part of the firm’s “pattern and practice” of “acquiring such businesses, misappropriating the clients and then kicking the older investment advisors to the curb.”
James Hyre filed his complaint in federal court in Kansas, naming Mariner and numerous subsidiaries. According to the complaint, Hyre was 56 years old and had been building his book of business for over 32 years before Mariner allegedly hoodwinked him.
“(Mariner’s) conduct was not mere breach,” the suit read. “It was a deliberate effort to obtain (Hyre’s) assets under management at a steep discount through fraud, weaponized termination, restrictive covenants and character assassination.”
Hyre Personal Wealth Advisors was previously affiliated with Raymond James, but after meeting a Mariner recruiter, Hyre agreed to sell his business to the firm, according to the complaint. He agreed to operate as a Mariner branch while exercising “the same autonomy over his client relationships and business strategy” as before.
As part of the deal, Hyre alleged that Mariner claimed he’d benefit from Schwab and Fidelity business referrals via Mariner (which he claimed never appeared) and that he had to sign a two-year non-solicitation agreement.
Hyre claimed the parties agreed to a $39 million purchase price, eventually coming to $25 million in Mariner equity shares, a $1 million closing bonus and a $13 million “management incentive” paid three years after closing, based on three times (Hyre Personal Wealth Advisors’) earnings growth. The transaction closed on May 1, 2025.
However, Hyre claimed Mariner’s promises turned out to be “false, incorrect or misleading,” and that they’d acted in bad faith “to defraud (Hyre) of the book of business for far less than it was worth.”
After the transition, the intense workload allegedly caused Hyre’s chief operating officer to resign, and after Hyre attempted to bring on an additional advisor, Mariner allegedly blocked the request. After other issues with the transition, Hyre requested a meeting with Mariner Regional Managing Director Bob Cole, and eventually, the duo met in late October 2025 with a human resources representative. At the meeting, Cole allegedly told Hyre he had been fired and that the firm would offer a severance package while canceling the $13 million management incentive.
According to Hyre, Mariner also offered to repurchase the equity shares and submit a Form U5 status of “Permitted to Resign” in exchange for Hyre relinquishing any legal claims against the firm.
However, within days, Cole allegedly revoked the offer altogether, claiming Mariner “received reliable information” that Hyre had “materially violated” his post-separation contract obligations. Hyre denied this altogether, saying he’d only told clients to contact Mariner as he’d been previously instructed.
Hyre claimed that after a month of his counsel trying to ascertain the details, Mariner’s attorneys told them that the firm had not “identified material violations” of the restrictive covenants. However, Hyre said Mariner was adamant about avoiding the $13 million payday and alleges they concocted “after-the-fact” reasons to justify his firing.
Among the accusations was that he’d run a non-Mariner business from Mariner’s facilities, had alcoholic beverages on Mariner property, and that he’d made an undisclosed “side agreement” with a former HPWA (and current Mariner) employee, Phil Constans.
Hyre questioned all these accusations, claiming he’d only ever checked real estate investments he’d made on Mariner computers (and always did so after hours). He argued that the accusation of alcoholic beverages made no sense, as he ran wine and bourbon tastings for clients and had alcohol on hand to offer clients, and said Mariner had urged him to make the supposed “side agreement.”
According to Hyre, Constans was an older advisor, and Cole was pushing Hyre to hire a younger advisor, directing him to get Constans to retire to “make room for a younger advisor through any means necessary” (Hyre claims he agreed to offer Constans a severance using his personal funds).
At that point, Hyre claims that Mariner threatened that they would file a more damaging Form U5 if he did not accept the terms Mariner was offering; Hyre allegedly refused, and Mariner reportedly filed a U5 claiming he’d been “discharged” for “failure to meet company expectations unrelated to security work.”
Hyre had been affiliated with Raymond James for 20 years, but according to FINRA and SEC records, he had been “discharged” from a previous role at Macdonald Investments in 2005. According to an internal review, “a new account application signed by a customer was later changed and submitted by Mr. Hyre without evidence that the customer approved the changes,” and that the new applications “did not accurately reflect the source of funds.”
Mariner declined to comment for this story.