Chelsea Investment Adviser Agrees to Plead Guilty to Defrauding Investors Out of Millions

BOSTON—A Chelsea man was charged with and agreed to plead guilty today to defrauding investors through mail and wire fraud.

Gary J. Martel, 55, was charged by information and agreed to plead guilty to three counts of mail fraud and one count of wire mail.

The information filed by the United States today alleges that Martel held himself out as an investment adviser and offered to invest his client’s funds in a variety of specific investments including bonds, mortgage lending pools, and Facebook stock. In fact, Martel did not invest the client funds as he had represented to his clients but diverted most of the money to his own personal use and created phony account statements which he sent to investors to hide his ongoing fraud. The information alleges that in total, Martel received approximately $5.4 million from investors and paid back only about $2.1 million and retained proceeds of approximately $3.3 million.

Martel’s plea hearing is set for November 14, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. before the Honorable Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV.

If convicted, Martel faces up to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250 million fine.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Boston Field Division; and Kevin Niland, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also acknowledges the valuable assistance it received from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-Boston Regional Office, the Massachusetts Securities Division, and the Boston Police Department.