A woman who used to serve as an investment advisor in Chester Township NJ has been sentenced to seven years in New Jersey State Prison for committing financial fraud.
The fraud occurred between 2003 and 2013. According to Somerset County prosecutors, the suspect fabricated more than 100 financial account statements in order to artificially inflate the values of her clients’ accounts. She then mailed the false statements to her clients.
In total, the suspect pretended to boost the values of her clients’ accounts by a total of $818,000. The suspect also stole more than $150K from a few clients and lied in order to get nearly $200K in investment adviser fees.
On top of all that, the suspect allegedly committed identity theft by stealing the identities of numerous corporations.
The victims reportedly included more than two dozen elderly individuals who had trusted the suspect with their retirement savings.
The suspect, a 64-year-old woman who used to reside in Chester Township, was charged with a number of theft and fraud crimes, including embezzlement and theft by deception.
Now she has pleaded guilty and received a sentence of seven years in NJ State Prison.
The suspect recently appeared in Somerset County Superior Court so that the judge could impose the sentence.
After the sentence was announced in court, the acting attorney general and prosecutor for the NJ Office of Insurance Fraud said that the suspect deserved the harsh punishment because she “duped trusting investors into believe she had their best interests in mind when all she really cared about was stealing their money to enrich her own financial well-being.” The attorney general added that this penalty should “serve as a deterrent” to anyone who is thinking about committing similar theft or fraud crimes in New Jersey.
In addition to going to jail, the suspect will also have to pay more than $415K in restitution to her victims.
While the suspect is headed to prison, her husband, a 66-year-old attorney who lives in Lambertville NJ, will avoid jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy and money laundering. Instead of spending time behind bars, the suspect’s husband will be admitted into the Pre-Trial Intervention (PTI) program.
For additional information about this case, check out the DailyRecord.com article, “Chester Twp. Woman Gets 7 Years for Investment Fraud.”
