JOHN M. BABIARZ (CRD# 3047247), a New England financial advisor, has admitted to stealing $645,000 from his elderly clients. One of the elderly clients considered Babiarz a friend until she found out that a large portion of her savings was gone. Babiarz told his client he was liquidating some of her investments to purchase Facebook […]

DAVID E. SEAGREN (CRD# 1180218) a 70 year-old former financial advisor who had pled guilty in Pennsylvania in 2014, want to withdraw his guilty plea. Seagren initially pled guilty to charges of stealing money from a 97 year-old woman. After Seagren asked to withdraw his guilty plea before he was to be sentenced Monday morning […]

JEFFERY C. MCCLURE (CRD# 4869698) a former Wells Fargo Advisors broker from Chico, CA, was permanently barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly stealing almost $89,000 from his elderly client. Allegedly, McClure wrote 36 checks totaling $88,850 between December 2012 and August 2014 without his client's consent and deposited them into his […]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has barred Jo Ellen Fisher of Gallipolis, Ohio, a former Raymond James Financial Services Inc. financial advisor, for allegedly stealing more than $924,000 in cash and securities from a 95 year-old client's trust account. Allegedly, Fisher transferred the stolen funds into her own daughter's brokerage account. Jo Ellen Fisher […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Donna Jessee Tucker, based in Roanoke, Va., with defrauding elderly customers, including some who are legally blind. Tucker allegedly stole $730,289 for her own personal use, including cars, vacations, country club memberships, and falsifying her clients' account statements to cover up her fraud. Tucker also allegedly engaged in […]

With the growing number of our citizens reaching 60 or above, we are also seeing a growing number of victims of investment fraud in this age group. In fact, people over the age of 60 account for over thirty percent of investment fraud victims. Most seniors are living on a fixed income. These investment losses […]

JOHN M. BABIARZ (CRD# 3047247), a former broker from Peabody, Massachusetts, was sentenced to four years in federal prison and could lose his home, car, his investment account and $645,000 he admitted stealing from his elderly clients. Babiarz, 40, plead guilty in May to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Babiarz contacted several of his […]

REDONDA L. RUSSELL (CRD# 2352819) 66 years-old, former Fort Worth investment advisor, plead guilty to a wire fraud charge. According to the US Attorney's office, Russell targeted the inactive accounts of her clients from First Command Financial Planning, Inc. of Fort Worth, nearly half of whom were dead, for more than $316,000. By targeting inactive […]

On July 31, 2014, former Ameriprise Financial Services financial advisor, Michelle Lee Kern, 36, of Sacramento, CA, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay $642,625 in restitution for financial advisor fraud. Michele Kern was a licensed financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. in Roseville, CA, from 2009 through December 2012, […]