JOSEPH J. HENNESSY, a 53 year-old financial advisor from Western Springs, Illinois, was charged with running a Ponzi scheme which defrauded at least 10 investors out of $2.9 million. According to federal prosecutors' announcement on Friday, this took place over a five-year period. JOSEPH J. HENNESSY, who was registered with FINRA, CRD# 1380254, was indicted by a federal grand jury and is now facing seven felony counts of wire fraud.
The former Resource Planning Group Inc., which was co-owned by Hennessy, began in 2007. According to prosecutors, Resource Planning Group began a private equity fund which claimed it was investing in small businesses. Allegedly, Hennessy repaid existing investors with money from new investors claiming they would receive up to a 15 percent per year gain.
Hennessy, according to prosecutors, claimed he knew he didn’t have enough money to repay the investors. He then allegedly took money from his clients’ retirement funds and repaid other investors. These funds were illegally obtained and totaled approximately $2.9 million by 2012.
JOSEPH J. HENNESSY is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, April 30, 2014, and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each of the seven wire fraud charges and $250,000 in fines.
JOSEPH J. HENNESSY (CRD# 1380254), according to FINRA's BrokerCheck,
was previously registered with the following FINRA firm(s):
HLM SECURITIES, INC. (CRD# 133216) - CHICAGO, IL
04/2005 - 02/2013 (FINRA expelled the firm in 07/2013)
ROYAL ALLIANCE ASSOCIATES, INC. (CRD# 23131) - NEW YORK, NY
11/1989 - 12/2004
INTEGRATED RESOURCES EQUITY CORPORATION (CRD# 6403) 01/1987 - 11/1989
PLUMWOOD SECURITIES CORPORATION (CRD# 15205) 09/1985 - 12/1986
Soreide Law Group represents their clients nationwide. If you or a loved one have become a victim of this or any other Ponzi Scheme, call us for a free consultation on how to potentially recover those losses. To speak with an attorney call: 888-760-6552.
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