An Allen, Texas, financial advisor who is facing murder charges was sentenced to life in federal prison last week for a fraud scheme that involved his alleged victim.

In October 2022, advisor Keith Todd Ashley, 51, was found guilty in a federal court of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. He was sentenced to life in prison  on August 17 by U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas said that Ashley, also a registered nurse and brewery owner, began stealing money from clients in 2016, promising them he’d put their money in financial products but instead using the money to keep his struggling brewery open and to fund his lifestyle and pay personal bills.

In 2021, Ashley was indicted by a Dallas County grand jury on capital murder charges for the shooting death of James “Jim” Seegan on February 19, 2020. The grand jury said that the shooting death was done in conjunction with Ashley’s attempt to rob Seegan, a friend and client. Seegan’s death was staged as a suicide, according to the U.S. government’s case filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division.

“In 2016, Ashley solicited money from an individual identified as JS,” the government said in its filing, USA V. Ashley, referring to Seegan as “JS.”  “Ashley invested JS's money in a fictitious security and a $2 million life insurance policy. Ashley also arranged to be the trustee and executor of JS's estate.”

The government’s case said that on the morning of his death, Seegan “had a meeting scheduled with Ashley to draw blood to use for his life insurance policy. Security cameras captured Ashley enter JS's house at 9:30 a.m. At 10:15 a.m., a loud noise activated JS's garage security camera. At 10:17 a.m., a ‘suicide note’ was printed from JS's computer. At 10:21 a.m., security cameras captured Ashley leaving JS's house. Police later determined the garage security camera would not activate from a car starting or bookshelf falling, but would activate from a gunshot.”

The government said that Seegan’s wife discovered his body, and that a 9 mm pistol was in her husband’s left hand, even though he was right-handed. “Neither the gun nor the shell casings had any fingerprints. While blood splattered the office, there was no blood on the ‘suicide note.’ … Authorities later discovered the drug etomidate in JS's system at the time of his death. Etomidate is used before intubation in a hospital and renders a patient paralyzed within 30 to 60 seconds of injection.”

According to the Department of Justice’s announcement: “In May 2016, Ashley began stealing investment funds from a Carrollton man,” a reference to Seegan. “This scheme included transferring the client’s money into his personal accounts and changing the beneficiary of the man’s life insurance to a trust controlled by Ashley. … Even after the client was killed, Ashley went through elaborate steps to collect on the life insurance policy, transfer funds from the victim’s bank account to himself, and attempt to obtain a copy of the victim’s autopsy report.”

Ashley was affiliated with Parkland Securities for 18 years until 2020, according to his BrokerCheck report. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority barred Ashely last October after investigating the reasons for his termination from Parkland, which let Ashley go over undisclosed outside business activities.

The government said that Ashley spent a total of $1 million of his clients’ money, turning his legitimate business selling mutual funds and life insurance policies into what was essentially a Ponzi scheme. He used client money, said the government for mortgage payments and casino bills, as well as for his brewery.