Westminster Investment Advisor Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Scheme
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law LLC:
Jasper Buck, a 60 year old financial advisor from Westminster, Maryland, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for mail fraud arising from a scheme in which Buck stole almost $2 million from clients. He also will be required to forfeit the money he obtained from the victims in addition to paying a restitution fine amounting to over $1 million.
While working for various mortgage companies, Buck admitted to telling victims that he was a representative of Portfolio Financial Group (PFG). He told individuals that PFG would loan money provided by the victims to borrowers who needed funds quickly or who were unable to obtain traditional bank loans and were therefor willing to pay a higher interest rate. Those individuals were put under the impression that there were other owners and employees of PFG. However, bank accounts for PFG list Buck as the sole signatory, and PFG addresses either were his home address or UPS store locations.
The victims were convinced to invest all or a portion of their retirement savings, or to refinance their home mortgages and use lines of credit in order to invest the proceeds with PFG. In turn, Buck stated to the victims that they would receive a monthly payment that would be greater than their monthly loan payment. To conceal the scheme, Buck issued payment to some individuals using the money garnered from others, creating a false sense of consistent financial return. In January, 2014 Buck had exhausted PFG’s account and could not make any more payments, forcing him to falsely claim a number of explanations to investors on why their money would not be returned.
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