Ex-Janney Rep Arrested, Charged With Stealing Over $400K From Clients

More Details

Pitsironis allegedly transferred more than $400,000 from the investment account of a couple who trusted him to manage their portfolio directly into his own bank account, according to the complaint.

"He later used this money to pay his family's personal expenses, all the while deceiving both his victims and the financial services firm for whom he worked," DuCharme said in announcing the complaint and the defendant's arrest.

In about 2009, Pitsironis, while working at a financial services firm office in Melville, New York, started managing the investments of "Victim-1" and "Victim-2," a married couple who lived on Long Island, according to the complaint.

Between May 2, 2019 and June 11, 2019, Pitsironis initiated 22 transfers totaling about $411,000 from one of the victims' investment accounts to a bank account in the defendant's own name at another financial institution, the complaint alleged.

Pitsironis then falsely told the financial services firm he worked for (Janney, although not named in the complaint) that Victim-2 owned the bank account receiving the funds and that Victim-2 had authorized the transfer of funds to that account, according to the complaint.

Pitsironis then transferred the stolen funds to other bank accounts that he controlled and used the stolen money to pay for his family's personal expenses that included casino gambling debts, credit card bills and the lease of a luxury car, the complaint alleged.

If convicted of wire fraud, Pitsironis faces up to 20 years in prison, according to DuCharme.

The defendant violated the trust his clients "had placed in him to manage their money safely and honestly," DuCharme said in a statement. "This Office is committed to protecting the investing public from corrupt financial advisors like the defendant who put greed before their clients' best interests."