Kenmore Financial Adviser Arrested for Mail Fraud
Allegedly Liquidated $125,000 Client Account Without Permission
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 30, 2013 |
A long-time financial adviser who was stripped of his insurance producers license in 2012 was arrested today on a federal charge of mail fraud for liquidating a client account without authorization, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. Edward H. Kahler, 64, is the owner of Key Resources, a Kenmore, Washington retirement consultation company that sells annuities and life insurance. The charge alleges that Kahler used proprietary information from the company he used to represent to access customer accounts. Kahler allegedly used that information to liquidate the customer account and use the money for his own benefit. Kahler will make his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, October 1, 2013.
According to the criminal complaint, from 1983 to 2007, Kahler was a financial adviser for Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company (VALIC), and was appointed by VALIC to sell its annuities. VALIC terminated Kahler in 2007 when it discovered he was promoting competing annuities. Using information that he had in his files, Kahler allegedly created profiles for former clients using the VALIC online system and fraudulently caused VALIC to liquidate the clients' accounts and send the proceeds to him for his personal use and benefit. In the instance described in the complaint, on Christmas Eve 2012, Kahler liquidated the account of a client who had died in 1984 and used the $125,000 to fund a trip to Las Vegas, the payment on a BMW, and other personal expenses. He also paid business expenses with the money.
Mail fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The charges contained in the complaint are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case is being investigated by the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin Arnold.
Press contact for the U.S. Attorney’s Office is Emily Langlie at (206) 553-4110 or Emily.Langlie@usdoj.gov.