Charges Added Against Former LPL Rep Accused of Stealing $1.4 Million from Elderly Clients
A former LPL financial advisor faces up to 37 years in prison and a $1 million fine after being charged in a superseding indictment with defrauding his elderly clients and stealing their retirement assets.
A former LPL financial advisor faces up to 37 years in prison after being charged in a superseding indictment with defrauding his elderly clients and stealing their retirement assets, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Paul McGonigle, who provided investment advisory services under the name Integrated Financial Services, was charged with one count of investment adviser fraud and two counts of money laundering. He was previously arrested and charged in June 2021 with three counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
According to the indictment, from February 2015 until May 2021, McGonigle began making unauthorized withdrawals from his clients’ annuities by allegedly impersonating them on calls with the annuity companies and forging their signatures on withdrawal request forms and other documents.
McGonigle is accused of stealing at least $1.4 million from 15 clients “who were elderly or in poor physical and mental health,” and purportedly continued the alleged fraud for months after being barred by FINRA in November 2020 for failing to respond to their requests for information.
Before moving to LPL in early 2018, McGonigle spent nearly 20 years of his 34-year career at SII Investments, according to his BrokerCheck profile.
For the investment adviser fraud charge, he faces up to five years in prison and three years of supervised release, while the charge of money laundering carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
The charges of mail and wire fraud have sentences of up to 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release. Aggravated identity theft has a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison and up to one year of supervised release.
Each of the charges include a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater.
