A New York-based broker who pleaded guilty to defrauding his clients over a two-year period will be going to prison, WealthManagement reported.
A federal judge sentenced 42-year-old Dean Dellas of Cazenovia, New York to 70 months behind bars. Dellas was a broker and investment advisor at Merrill Lynch’s Syracuse office between 2008 and September 2013, and then worked as a dually registered advisor with Pinnacle Investments until February 2021.
From June 2021 through November 2023, Dellas acted as a financial advisor for the investment accounts of clients in the Syracuse area.
As part of his guilty plea in March, Dellas admitted that he fraudulently induced those clients to sign paperwork that authorized him to take advisor fees from their accounts well in excess of what they actually agreed to. For other accounts, Dellas fraudulently induced the clients to sign paperwork granting him trading and withdrawal authority over their accounts.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, the account-opening paperwork misrepresented Dellas’s relationship to the clients and falsely stated that he received no compensation for providing investment advice.
The documents also falsely stated that the clients wanted to engage in high-risk forms of investment, prosecutors said. Dellas further admitted that to cover up the fraud, he took steps to conceal account statements from his clients and at times impersonated clients in communicating with brokerage firms.
Dellas admitted that he stole about $686,000 from his victims through unauthorized withdrawals and advisor fees. He pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
“Today’s sentence reflects the seriousness of Dellas’s conduct,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone. “By manipulating client documents and misusing the authority he was given, Dellas undermined the integrity of the investment process and caused significant financial harm.”
In addition to the prison term, Chief United States District Judge Brenda K. Sannes ordered Dellas to pay $686,797 in restitution to victims and imposed a two-year term of supervised release after he is freed from prison.
The attorneys at Hyman Cotter have decades of experience dealing with securities fraud cases and have a deep understanding of how capital markets and financial service firms are intended to work to protect investors. If you think your financial professional or firm engaged in misconduct that caused you investment losses, contact Hyman Cotter at (833) 665-0784 or through our online contact form for a no-cost evaluation of your matter.
