What You Must Know
- One affected shopper had dementia and one other had suffered a traumatic mind harm, based on the Justice Division.
- Ex-broker Paul R. McGonigle posed as purchasers to take cash from their annuities, saying he’d make investments it for them, DOJ mentioned.
- The fees of cash laundering, wire fraud, mail fraud and aggravated identification theft carried a most sentence of 37 years.
The previous LPL Monetary dealer who was barred from the trade by the Monetary Trade Regulatory Authority and indicted final 12 months, accused of defrauding a minimum of 15 of his older and in any other case susceptible purchasers, has been sentenced to greater than 4 years in jail, based on the Justice Division and court docket paperwork.
Paul R. McGonigle, 67, of Middleboro, Massachusetts, had served as a monetary advisor for his victims, “lots of whom have been aged, considered one of whom had dementia, and one other who suffered a traumatic mind harm,” based on the Justice Division.
He was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Courtroom Decide Nathaniel M. Gorton to 54 months in jail and two months of supervised launch. He was additionally ordered to pay restitution of $652,987.
Beginning no later than February 2015, McGonigle triggered unauthorized withdrawals from victims’ annuities and induced them to provide him cash to take a position on their behalf, which he then used for private and enterprise bills, changing a minimum of $1.4 million in all, the Justice Division mentioned.
“McGonigle posed as purchasers on calls with their annuity corporations and signed their names on types requesting withdrawals from their annuities,” based on the Justice Division. “When a few of his purchasers started to ask questions, McGonigle hid his scheme by falsely assuring purchasers that their investments have been rising.”
The Prices
In February 2023, McGonigle pleaded responsible in U.S. District Courtroom in Massachusetts to 1 rely of funding advisor fraud, two counts of cash laundering, three counts of wire fraud, one rely of mail fraud and one rely of aggravated identification theft.
4 of the 5 victims cited in court docket paperwork have been residents of Massachusetts, whereas the opposite was a resident of Florida.
