Merrill went down to Georgia ... and got denied a TRO

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Citywire RIA’s roving reporter Alec Rich hopped on a plane to Georgia to cover the latest twist in an ongoing legal battle between $129bn breakaway OpenArc Corporate Advisors (plus Dynasty Financial Partners and Charles Schwab) and Merrill Lynch. He joins the pod to share everything he learned in Atlanta and explain what happens next. Also on the podcast, Andrew talks about that rarest of things — a wealth firm going public. And Ian is back (sort of) with the lowdown on Ares’ first foray into buying equity in an RIA.  
3 Oct 2025 English United States Investing

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