An Oakland County financial advisor who pled guilty last September to embezzling over 3.7 million dollars from his clients at UBS Financial Services, was sentenced by Judge Bernard Friedman to 9 years in prison yesterday, announced United States Attorney Matthew Schneider.
Schneider was joined in the announcement by Timothy R. Slater, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Detroit Field Office and Mark Clemens, Birmingham Police Chief.
John Maccoll, 65, of Rochester Hills, Michigan pled guilty to wire fraud in relation to the theft of approximately $3.7 million from his clients at UBS Financial Services (UBS) located in Birmingham, Michigan.
According to the plea agreement, Maccoll advised some of his clients at UBS to wire transfer money or write checks to his personal accounts in order to take advantage of investment vehicles which he claimed were not available through UBS. Subsequently, Maccoll would falsely tell the clients who sent money to his personal accounts that the funds they “invested" in were performing well and that they should send more money. Instead of investing the clients’ funds sent to his personal account, Maccoll converted these funds to his personal use. More than a dozen individuals who sought advice from Maccoll through UBS became victims of his scheme. It is estimated that these victims lost over $3.7 million during the period from April 2010 until March 2018.
United States Attorney Schneider stated, "Let this sentence be a deterrent to anyone who tries to take advantage of those who seek to invest their hard earned money for their retirement. Our office is committed to vigorously prosecute these types of economic crimes because of their damaging effect on our society."
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Detroit Metro Identity Theft and Financial Crimes Task Force.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abed Hammoud with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
