A former Morgan Stanley investment advisor admitted stealing more than $6 million from clients and using the money to pay his mortgage, credit card bills and country club membership fees.
Michael Barry Carter, 47, pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud and investment advisor fraud for making at least 53 unauthorized transfers from client accounts to his own, Maryland U.S. Attorney Robert Hur said in a statement.
Carter faces as much as 25 years in prison for the two charges, though it’s likely his sentence will be much lower than the maximum.
Morgan Stanley said in a statement that it fired Carter, who worked in its Tysons Corner, Virginia, office, in July 2019 and notified law enforcement and regulators as soon as his thefts came to light. The firm said it has cooperated with their investigations.
“There were a limited number of clients impacted and any money misappropriated by the adviser was returned,” Morgan Stanley said in the statement.
According to prosecutors, Carter defrauded five clients from October 2007 to July 2019 by forging their signatures on bank authorization forms. The fraud was discovered when one them tried to get a loan, only to discover that an unauthorized $800,000 loan had already been taken out in the client’s name.
Carter was also sued on related allegations Monday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Carter’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to voicemails and emails seeking comment.
The case is U.S. v. Carter, 20-cr-00151, U.S. District Court, District of Maryland (Greenbelt).
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.