Merrill Lynch has seen the departure of an Hawaii-based team which reportedly has over $900 million in assets under management less than a year after facing a lawsuit over their defection from Morgan Stanley.

The trio concerned – known as the Choy Kinney Wo Group – manage money for 1,200 clients, according to the report. In a federal lawsuit filed last October, Morgan Stanley had alleged that the team took over 1,000 clients and account records with them when they joined Merrill.

Morgan Stanley claimed that prior to resigning Carl Choy, Lynne Kinney and Ronald Wo had violated their employment agreements by soliciting clients and removing confidential records.

Merrill Lynch confirmed the resignation of the team when contacted by WealthBriefing; the identity of their new firm is as yet unknown.