A former LPL Financial broker who looted the retirements accounts of his frail and elderly clients was sentenced yesterday to more than four years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Paul R. McGonigle, 67, of Middleboro, Mass., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 54 months in prison and two months of supervised release. He also was ordered to pay restitution of $652,987.
McGonigle pleaded guilty in February to one count of investment advisor fraud, two counts of money laundering, three counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
According to prosecutors, beginning no later than February 2015, McGonigle took advantage of five elderly clients, one of whom had dementia, and another who suffered a traumatic brain injury, by engaging in a scheme to defraud them of property and money. Prosecutors said without their knowledge, McGonigle withdrew funds from the clients’ annuities and induced them to give him money to invest on their behalf, which he used for personal and business expenses.
Prosecutors said he posed as the clients on calls with their annuity companies and signed their names on forms making the withdrawal requests. He deposited the funds in an account he controlled at Rockland Trust Bank in Raynham, Mass., prosecutors said.
McGonigal stole more than $1.2 million, prosecutors said, noting that he covered up the scheme by “falsely assuring clients that their investments were growing.”
McGonigle began in the industry in 1983 with IDS Financial Service, Inc., and worked for a few other firms including Royal Alliance Associates Inc. from 1989 to 1998, according to BrokerCheck. He joined SII Investments Inc., where he spent 19 years before moving to LPL in February 2018. He left LPL in June 2019.
According to the February 2022 indictment, McGonigle continued working up until November 16, 2020 as a registered broker under the name Integrated Financial Services (IFS). On that date, he was barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for failing to respond to requests for information.
“What Paul McGonigle did is despicable. He preyed on his elderly and vulnerable clients, betrayed their trust, and stole over $1.2 million from their retirement accounts,” Christopher DiMenna, acting special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, said in a statement.
DiMenna added that scams last year cost consumers $3.31 billion nationwide and victims in Massachusetts reported losing almost $76 million.