CAMDEN, NJ—John Montague, a former Gloucester County, New Jersey-based financial advisor was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for defrauding his clients of more than $900,000 by having them make investment checks payable to himself, which he then diverted to his personal use, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Montague, 60, of Mantua, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud. Judge Hillman imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Montague was licensed to sell mutual funds, variable annuities, and insurance premiums but at no time was he licensed to sell corporate or municipal securities, direct participation programs, or options. Montague engaged in a scheme to defraud his clients by soliciting and inducing them to purchase investment vehicles that Montague knew he could not sell. Montague described the investment vehicles to his clients as guaranteed investments that promised a rate of return of approximately six percent. Montague instructed his clients to make their investment checks payable to him, and he then deposited them into his personal bank accounts. To maintain the clients’ confidence in the investments, Montague issued periodic “dividend” checks to his clients.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Hillman sentenced Montague to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $788,716 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. in Philadelphia, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Attorney in Charge R. Stephen Stigall of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.