A former Merrill Lynch broker was sentenced to three and a half years in prison sentence for a 10-year, $3 million scheme that included stealing $800,000 from the victim of a wrongful imprisonment settlement.
Marcus Boggs, 51, who spent his entire 12-year brokerage career with Merrill Lynch, admitted to defrauding at least eight clients out of $3 million between 2008 and 2018 by using their money to pay for “international travel, expensive meals at restaurants, rents at multiple apartments, and the mortgage on his personal residence,” according to his plea agreement.
Boggs, who was facing 20 years, told U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland before sentencing in Chicago yesterday that “I’ve dishonored myself and my reputation. ... What I did was wrong, there is no excuse. Words can’t express how immensely sorry, remorseful and overcome with shame, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
Boggs pleaded guilty to wire fraud last March, more than a year after federal prosecutors first leveled criminal charges against him. He had managed more than $40 million in assets for more than 70 clients while a Merrill Lynch broker, according to court documents.
Records show Boggs led a jet-setter’s lifestyle, vacationing in luxury hotels in Europe, South America, Canada and the Caribbean.
Boggs’ victims included Shainne Sharp, who received $5 million in a 2014 settlement after being wrongfully convicted of murder and turned to Boggs to manage the money, according to the complaint.
Before sentencing, Rowland told Boggs he was “just living high—just living way, way, way beyond your means. And that’s just wrong.” The judge also said Boggs’ decision to steal from Sharp “really hurts. Because Mr. Sharp has suffered enough,” the Chicago Sun Times reported.
Federal prosecutors first pressed criminal charges against Boggs in August 2019, when he was arrested at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago trying to board an international flight to Germany on a one-way ticket.
They accused Boggs of making at least 200 unauthorized wire transfers to his American Express account from multiple client accounts between 2016 and 2018.
Merrill Lynch issued a statement that said the firm fired Boggs, promptly notified authorities and cooperated with federal and regulatory investigations. The broker-dealer also said it had compensated all of Boggs aggrieved clients to the tune of $7.5 million in settlements.