A former Massachusetts financial advisor has been sentenced to prison for engaging in a scheme to defraud his clients out of millions of dollars, ThinkAdvisor reports.
A federal judge in Boston sentenced 55-year-old Steven Xigoros of Lowell to 109 months behind bars along with two years of supervised release.
Prosecutors said Xigoros carried out the fraud between 2015 and 2021, using his position as an accountant, tax preparer and investment advisor to convince clients to entrust their money to him. He allegedly told them the funds would be used for investments, securities and business ventures, but instead used the money to pay his own expenses that included gambling debts. According to the indictment, he deceived the clients through false statements about how the money would be invested and when it would be paid back.
Federal prosecutors said Xigoros defrauded his clients out of over $4.3 million, including the entire life savings of one elderly couple who gave him more than $1.3 million to make investments for them. By not reporting the misappropriated funds as income, Xigoros also failed to pay the taxes that were due and owed over $1 million to the Internal Revenue Service.
“For more than five years, Mr. Xigoros used his position to steal millions of dollars from his trusting clients. His victims saw him as a reliable, safe investment advisor – he had years of professional experience and many of the victims’ trust as a fellow member of their close-knit Greek community. Eventually, as his gambling debts grew, Mr. Xigoros chose to abuse this trust and rob his clients of more than $4.3 million,” said United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins.
Authorities said Xigoros tried to flee from prosecution while on pre-trial release by attempting to board a flight to Greece, but was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport. He pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of filing a false tax return. Along with the prison term, Xigoros was also ordered to pay $4.8 million in restitution to individual victims and the IRS and forfeiture of $4.3 million.
At Lewitas Hyman, our attorneys understand the financial and emotional ramifications of investment losses caused by financial professionals and we have experience dealing with a broad range of claims that rise to the level of financial advisor misconduct. If you have suffered investment losses as a result of misconduct by your financial professional or their firms, contact Lewitas Hyman at (888) 655-6002or through our online contact form for a free consultation.
