FBI: Financial Advisor Bilked 64-Year-Old Woman Out Of $313K

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A financial advisor is experiencing federal rates for embezzling from a shopper in New Rochelle.

Adam Belardino, the Chief Executive Officer of the Maddox Group, a economical advisory company in New York Metropolis has been charged with wire fraud in link with his embezzlement of additional than $313,000 from a client, a 64-yr-old New Rochelle resident, Damian Williams, the United States Lawyer for the Southern District of New York and Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant Director-in-Cost of the New York Business office of the FBI announced. Belardino was arrested Wednesday morning.

“Belardino is billed right now for allegedly thieving quite a few hundred thousand bucks from a shopper in an unlawful financial investment fraud scheme,” Driscoll reported. “Monetary crimes of this mother nature can bring about significant disruptions to the lives of those who are victimized. We urge every person to training their thanks diligence when investing their revenue and to report suspicious exercise to authorities as soon as feasible.”

Belardino had earlier managed the victim’s investments at a different business prior to he founded Maddox in July 2019, according to prosecutors. In August 2019, he persuaded the target to liquidate some of her portfolio and to transfer the liquidated funds to Maddox for investment. The sufferer then transferred extra than $313,000 to Maddox in 8 separate transactions involving August 2019 and October 2020.

Alternatively of investing the victim’s funds as he experienced promised, Belardino made use of the victim’s dollars to pay the working costs of Maddox, such as payroll and workplace hire to spend down prior personal debt to pay back credit score card fees, which consisted principally of own items and to pay out for personal vacation, according to charging documents.

In September 2021, the sufferer directed Belardino to transfer her portfolio at Maddox to her brokerage account at yet another agency. From September 2021 to February 2022, Belardino sent the sufferer and customers of her spouse and children e-mails and texts in which he stated he was liquidating the portfolio and would return the funds shortly. He also offered the victim’s relatives with documents suggesting that a wire transfer of the resources to the victim’s financial institution account was imminent or pending. Belardino also deposited checks drawn on a checking account held by Maddox into the victim’s lender account for what he claimed was the full value of the victim’s portfolio, prosecutors allege.

The target by no means obtained any funds by wire and the checks Belardino deposited into her bank account ended up returned since the Maddox account did not have enough money to include the checks, in accordance to the indictment. Belardino also reportedly sent users of the victim’s loved ones a document that falsely stated that the Maddox lender account had adequate money to repay the target.

“Adam Belardino abused the trust his consumer placed in him by stealing additional than $313,000 the consumer gave him to be invested,” Williams said. “Consumers like the victim in this case require to be in a position to entrust their money to monetary advisors with self esteem that the dollars will be invested in a manner that is proper for them. This Office will aggressively pursue economic advisors and some others who steal revenue entrusted to them by clientele.”

The 37-yr-previous New York Town resident is billed with one depend of wire fraud, which carries a optimum sentence of 20 decades in prison.