A Williamsburg, Mich., insurance agent was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison for defrauding elderly clients.
William Edward Lowder, 57, who operated Lowder Insurance, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell. The judge included a 36-month concurrent sentence on a separate charge of filing a false tax return in 2008.
Lowder was ordered to pay $1,567,908 in restitution and complete 300 hours of community service once he completes his sentence.
Many rogue advisors' improprieties are for suggesting products that are not suitable for their clients, but Lowder's operation contained elements of a Ponzi scheme. Lowder would approach his elderly clients and suggest they liquidate existing annuity investments under the guise that they would be reinvested in other annuities which would reap higher returns.
