A 72-year-old Memphis, Tenn.-area financial advisor is facing up to 60 years behind bars after pleading guilty to defrauding clients, including stealing more than $1 million from a widow.
Stephen Douglas Fry admitted to the three-count information charge in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said in a press release yesterday.
Fry was an accountant and financial advisor doing business in Germantown, Tenn., as Fry Financial Services, according to the press release. Prosecutors alleged that between 2009 and 2019, Fry stole and embezzled more than $1.3 million from a client who had given him power of attorney to prepare tax returns and manage and invest monies following the death of her husband.
The second count alleged that Fry defrauded a mortgage lender, title company and closing agent in connection with the sale of his personal residence, after he was served with a civil suit and notice of lien filed in Shelby County Chancery Court on behalf of the widow. Fry misrepresented on an owner’s affidavit that there was no pending litigation or liens affecting the property being sold. As a result, Fry caused the disbursement of $325,827.84 in loan proceeds.
The third count alleged that Fry requested a $410,000 loan from another client in Mississippi and falsely stated the funds were going to be used to purchase and resell an accounting firm. Fry, however, used the funds to replace funds he embezzled from an estate of which he was the named executor, the court document said.
Fry was registered as an investment advisor with H.D. Vest Advisory Services Inc. in Cordova, Tenn., from 2004 to 2011, according to SEC records.
Fry, who is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on March 5, is also facing fines of up to $1.5 million and five years supervised release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.