The former Mutual of Omaha Investor Services broker who the Securities and Exchange Commission last year charged with defrauding older clients out of $2.4 million has now been sentenced in a parallel criminal case to more than five years in prison.
On May 20 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Edward Matthes was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for carrying out a $2.6 million investment scheme that defrauded 27 victims, most of whom were seniors, according to court documents and Richard G. Frohling, acting U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Matthes was also ordered to pay his victims restitution of $2.4 million. He had earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud.
Mutual of Omaha did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the sentencing on Thursday.
According to the separate SEC complaint filed against him in the same court last year, beginning in April 2013, Matthes started stealing from certain retail brokerage clients, three of whom were also his investment advisory clients, and misappropriated about $2.4 million from 26 of his clients between April 2013 and March 2019.
"The SEC's litigation against Matthes is ongoing," it said on Wednesday.
Matthes was registered with Mutual of Omaha as a broker from 2012-2019, according to his report on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's BrokerCheck website.
He was terminated from the firm on March 12, 2019, for allegedly "creating fictitious account statements and diverting customer funds for his own personal use," according to a disclosure on his report. FINRA barred Matthes from associating with any FINRA member firm in any capacity later that same month. He is no longer registered as a broker or advisor, according to BrokerCheck.
After the SEC complaint was filed against him in January 2020, Matthew D. Krueger, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin at the time, filed criminal charges against Matthes on Nov. 25.
