A five-person advisory team with approximately $500 million in client assets have exited Merrill Lynch to start Sykon Capital, an independent registered investment advisor (RIA), through tru Independence, a $10 billion Portland, OR-based RIA provider.

Sykon is the second team from the New York City area to partner with tru in the past three months, and the fourth team in five months. The teams have brought more than $2 billion in assets to tru’s network. The largest, Seven Mile Advisory, a firm that joined the network in April and is also based in New York City, oversees about $1 billion of those assets.

Sykon includes Chairman and CEO Stephen Ruvituso, President and CIO Todd Stankiewicz, COO/CIO Joseph Castiglie III, Managing Partner of Client Engagement Julie Ackerman and Vice President of Sports and Entertainment Shawn Teufel. Ruvituso, Stankiewicz and Ackerman are all owners of the new firm.

The company provides asset management and wealth and retirement planning, as well as investment advisory consultation on held-away accounts, for institutional investors, wealthy individuals, trusts and estates, qualified purchasers and retirement plan participants.

“We take great satisfaction in showing advisors that they don’t need to compromise when finding a partner. Our mutual focus on delivering the best experience possible will allow them to serve their clients in the way that they know is best,” said Amit Dogra, President and Chief Operating Officer of tru.

Founded in 2014, tru provides services to existing RIA firms, launches breakaway advisors as RIA firms, and allows breakaway advisors and existing independent broker-dealers to join on its Form ADV.