Crescent Harbor Private Wealth, a Jersey City, NJ-based $200 million registered investment advisory practice, has become the 32nd Merrill Lynch breakaway team to become independent by joining Indianapolis-based Sanctuary Wealth.

Headed by founder and Chief Executive Officer John Araneo and a managing partner Jason Greenfield, Crescent specializes in business sales, managing inheritances and divorces, and overseeing and diversifying concentrated stock risk for corporate executives.

“Having spent their entire careers in the wirehouses, John and Jason decided that the time was right to explore independence. They were looking for a better future for themselves and their clients, with greater choice, flexibility and self-determination–and they found that and more with Sanctuary,” said Vince Fertitta, President, Wealth Management, Sanctuary Wealth.

Araneo has 25 years of wealth management experience and worked at UBS and Morgan Stanley in addition to Merrill Lynch. Greenfield entered the field with Merrill Lynch in 2019.

Sanctuary attracted a $1 billion Merrill Lynch team in Chicago and a $1.5 billion Merrill Lynch team in Texas earlier this year. In recent months, the firm has also acquired advisors from Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

The Sanctuary Wealth network now has partner firms in 28 states, representing about $25 billion in assets under advisement.