Feds: Wealth Advisors Exec Defrauded Investors
Posted on Thursday, 11 of June , 2009 at 4:23 pm
NEW YORK—A former principal of AFW Asset Management, Inc., doing business as AFW Wealth Advisers, Inc., has been charged with a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud investors by using deception to misappropriate investor funds from a brokerage account, lying to investors about how their money was being used, and converting investor money to his own use.
The 13-count complaint against Matthew D. Weitzman, 43, of Armonk, was unsealed in Manhattan federal court.
AFW is a financial planning and investment management firm with offices in Purchase, and Natick, Mass. Weitzman was a co-founder of AFW, and until early April 2009 was a certified financial planner there. AFW had more than $190 million in assets under management at the end of 2008, which it holds at an independent brokerage firm.
Beginning in at least 2005, Weitzman fraudulently obtained more than $6 million of AFW investor funds and converted those funds to his own personal use. Weitman obtained the funds by submitting forged documents to the Brokerage Firm that made it appear as if clients had authorized him to transfer their funds. He also obtained investor funds by making misrepresentations to them concerning how their funds would be used.
Weitzman is charged with one count of investment adviser fraud, six counts of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud. The investment adviser fraud carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. Each of the securities fraud counts carries a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment, a $5 million fine, and three years of supervised release. 6-11-09
Help keep The North Country Gazette on the web. Subscribe to the NCG Daily Digest today or place your advertising with us. If you plan on being a regular reader, you will need a subscription to access the website. Shop on line with our affiiliate advertisers and help NCG continue to bring the news to you.
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Meneame -
- Digg
COPYRIGHT 2009 - NORTH COUNTRY GAZETTE All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of the publisher.
