A Connecticut hybrid advisor is facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to misappropriating $575,000 in client assets, law enforcement authorities said today.
Lester Burroughs, 60, of Torrington, Conn., waived his right to be indicted and entered the plea in U.S. District Court yesterday as part of a deal in which he agreed to pay the full $575,000 in restitution to the victims of his crimes, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the District of Connecticut.
Burroughs defrauded three clients in a Ponzi scheme from about 2012 to 2019, during which time he was registered as both an investment advisor and a broker, according to authorities.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today announced separate civil charges against Burroughs in connection with the scheme, stating that he misappropriated $560,000 after falsely telling clients he would invest their money in guaranteed interest contracts, or GICs, with guaranteed returns of 4% or 7%, while he instead used the money to pay his own expenses and the "guaranteed" returns of other clients.
The complaint alleges that Burroughs never invested his clients' money in GICs and that he instead misappropriated the funds, used misappropriated funds to pay other investors and covered up the crime with fake documents. (He provided clients with fake account statements to hide the theft, the SEC said in the complaint.)
Burroughs has been registered with the SEC as a broker-dealer since 1969 and as an investment advisor since 1978, according to the SEC.
Since September 2012, he has been a registered rep and investment advisor at Lincoln Investment Planning LLC in Fort Washington, Pa., the agency said. He has also been registered as an investment advisor with Capital Analysts, also in Fort Washington, since March 2014.
Up until last month, he was the owner of Burroughs Investment Group, a full-service financial consulting firm in Torrington, Conn., according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The wire fraud charge to which Burroughs pleaded guilty carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. He was released on a $100,000 bond pending a sentencing that has not yet been scheduled, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.