Investment Advisor Sentenced for Operating Ponzi Scheme
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 13, 2012 |
GRAND RAPIDS, MI—Martin T. Wegener, age 44, formerly a registered representative associated with New England Securities, was sentenced today to nine years in prison and ordered to pay over $5.7 million in restitution for defrauding his former clients in an investment scam that ran from 2007 through 2010.
Wegener defrauded his clients out of millions of dollars and used the money he stole to keep afloat his affluent lifestyle and to support his business ventures. Wegener covered his tracks by sending out bogus account statements that reflected investments and balances that did not exist.
U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis said, “Fraud committed by licensed registered representatives such as the investment scam executed by this defendant fractures the trust citizens place in our financial systems. We hope that the sentence handed down today will deter others that seek to prey on individual investors.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in conjunction with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew G. Borgula.