Judge says ex-Bear exec can't join Morgan Stanley

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge has temporarily blocked a former senior Bear Stearns Cos (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) executive from jumping to Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and recruiting clients and colleagues to follow him.

U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston issued the order against Douglas Sharon on Thursday, 10 days after the former Bear executive director resigned, court papers show.

The judge concluded that Bear was likely to succeed on the merits of the case and, absent relief, would suffer irreparable harm.

Sharon's lawyer, Joshua Pemstein of Foley Hoag LLP, was not immediately available for comment. Morgan Stanley also did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Bear, crippled by a liquidity crisis, agreed this week to be acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in a transaction valuing it at $10 per share. JPMorgan is offering bonuses to many Bear employees to persuade them to stay.

According to Bear's complaint filed Wednesday, Sharon was executive director of Bear's private client services group in Boston, generating $5.12 million of annual commissions and overseeing more than $867 million of client assets.

Bear accused the 20-year company veteran of failing to give the required 90 days notice before resigning.

It also said Sharon was in the office the weekend before he resigned, as others copied confidential documents such as account statements.