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The ex-Mutual of Omaha broker was sentenced to 63 months for defrauding mostly older clients out of $2.6 million.
The former rep was also ordered to pay his 27 victims restitution of $2.4 million.
Separately, a partial judgment was entered against an ex-LPL broker who the SEC alleged stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from an older client.
The former Mutual of Omaha Investor Services broker who the Securities and Exchange Commission last year charged with defrauding older clients out of $2.4 million has now been sentenced in a parallel criminal case to more than five years in prison.
On May 20 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Edward Matthes was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for carrying out a $2.6 million investment scheme that defrauded 27 victims, most of whom were seniors, according to court documents and Richard G. Frohling, acting U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Ex-Mutual of Omaha rep Edward E Matthes gets 5 years financial-planning.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from financial-planning.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Milwaukee Broker Busted for $2.6 Million Fraud Scheme Edward E. Matthes pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges last year; his 27 victims included many elderly investors as well as his parents, according to the Justice Department.
A Milwaukee-based broker was sentenced to more than five years in prison after defrauding investors of about $2.6 million, the Department of Justice announced last week.
Edward E. Matthes pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud last year. According to the DOJ, Matthes’ 27 victims included many elderly investors, as well as his own parents.
“This fraudster took advantage of some of our most vulnerable citizens,” Robert Hughes, the FBI Special Agent in Charge, said in response to the sentencing. “Most of his victims were elderly, and he spent years gaining their trust, only to wipe out a lifetime of their savings.”
A 51-year-old Oconomowoc man has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for carrying out a $2.6 million investment scheme that defrauded 27 victims, including his own parents and a cognitively disabled person.
Edward Matthes, who now resides in Milwaukee, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in November 2020. On May 20, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Matthes was sentenced to 63 months in prison.
Matthes, who was a prominent member of the Oconomowoc community, solicited family, friends and community members to use his services as an independent broker-dealer for Mutual of Omaha Investor Services Inc.
According to court records, from 2013 to 2019 Matthes persuaded his clients, who were mostly elderly, to invest in fictitious Mutual of Omaha accounts, which he claimed would perform better for them. Instead, Matthes put more than $2.6 million of client funds into his own bank account and used it to pay off his credit cards, mortgage, c