An associate of convicted felon and former celebrity financial advisor Dawn Bennett was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for helping her defraud investment clients.
Bradley Mascho, 53, of Frederick, Md., also was ordered to pay $4.8 million in restitution and to serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.
Mascho pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and making a false statement as part of a plea agreement.
Mascho served as chief financial officer for a company run by Bennett, who last month was sentenced to 20 years in prison for defrauding her clients of $20 million and using the money to pay for religious rituals, astrological gems and other luxuries.
Bennett used two companies to carry out the scheme: Bennett Group Financial Services LLC, which she used to provide investment advice and financial services to clients, and DJB Holdings, an internet retail website she set up for the sale of luxury sportswear. Mascho served as chief financial officer of DJB Holdings, prosecutors said.
Bennett and Mascho pitched DJB Holdings as an investment to clients, and between 2014 and 2017 received more than $20 million from more than 40 different investors, prosecutors said. In some instances, prosecutors said, Bennett and Mascho talked clients into investing their retirement funds into the fraudulent company. "The evidence showed that Bennett, and to a lesser extent Mascho, misappropriated investor funds, using them to pay their personal expenses and to repay previous investors with funds received from new investors," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a press release.
Mashco also admitted that he lied under oath in a 2017 deposition conducted by the SEC, prosecutors said. "Mascho admitted that before the deposition, he spoke with Dawn Bennett extensively about his testimony and that his false statements to the SEC were all made under Bennett’s direction and at her insistence," the press release said.
From 2014 through 2016, Mascho received compensation from BGFS and Bennett of from $209,000 to $219,000, the release said.