A Langhorne financial advisor was charged this week with stealing funds from people who thought they were investing.
Malcolm Segal, 69, worked as a financial advisor with Wall Street-based Aegis Capital Corporation at the time of the alleged scheme that prosecutors netted him with $1,885,067.10.
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United States Attorney Zane David Memeger said Wednesday that Segal took money from individuals who believed they were investing their money in Certificates of Deposit and also from investors who held funds in brokerage accounts at Aegis.
From the United States Attorney’s office:
According to the indictment, between July 2011 and July 2014, Segal told client B.P. that Mercantile Bank and Bear Stearns were offering Certificates of Deposit (CDs) that were paying an annual interest rate of up to 12% with a minimum two-year investment of $100,000. Segal allegedly told individuals that he could sell them these CDs through Aegis. The indictment alleges that Segal accepted at least $100,000 from each of six victims, represented that he had purchased CDs on their behalf when he had not, mailed fraudulent deposit confirmations from National CD Sales Inc. to the victims, and mailed the victims checks which he represented as interest payments. According to the indictment, Segal used his victims’ money to pay personal expenses and to pay off other investors instead of purchasing CDs on behalf of the victims as promised. Segal allegedly stole an aggregate total of approximately $1,885,067.10 from the victims, representing the purchase price of the CDs less the purported interest payments. The indictment also alleges that Segal stole approximately $1,218,183.60 from the brokerage accounts of three of his clients at Aegis by making unauthorized wire transfers of funds from those brokerage accounts to a bank account controlled by Segal.
The indictment filed this week alleges that Segal operated J&M Financial, which was registered to a Middletown postal box, to funnel funds from victims.
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If convicted of the charges, Segal could face 57 to 71 months in prison with a statutory maximum sentence of 180 years in prison.
The FBI and United States Postal Inspection Service led the investigation, which is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joel D. Goldstein.
Click here to see the full indictment
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Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
