A Texas man was found guilty Oct. 5 of several federal crimes related to a murder in Carrollton, Texas.
Keith Todd Ashley, 50, of Allen, was found guilty “of wire fraud, mail fraud, carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and bank fraud,” an Oct. 5 news release said. The verdict was reached after a week-long trial before U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant. Ashley faces up to life in federal prison.
“Ashley went to great lengths to defraud clients that trusted him,” U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston said in the release. “By plotting and causing the death of one client to steal his money, Ashley committed the ultimate betrayal of trust and decency and the jury saw Ashley for who he is, a con-artist who would go so far as murder to get what he wanted."
Featherton credited the "incredible work" by the state and federal investigators and prosecutors "in getting this depraved criminal off the street," the release reported.
Ashley, a registered nurse, financial advisor and life insurance agent, started stealing money from his clients in 2016, according to the release. Instead of investing his clients’ money in financial products, Ashley used the money to pay other clients, “keep his struggling brewery in business,” pay personal bills and “fund a lavish lifestyle."
Ashley began stealing investments funds from a Carrollton man in May 2016, the release reported. The scheme included Ashley “changing the beneficiary of the man’s life insurance to a trust controlled by Ashley.”
Ashley attempted to stage the Feb. 19, 2020, murder of the man as a suicide, according to the release. A federal grand jury indicted Ashley Nov. 12, 2020, and he was charged with several federal violations.
Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno praised law enforcement’s work on the case, pledging to continue to seek justice for victims of schemes such as Ashley’s, the release reported.
“Keith Ashley’s desire for wealth and comfort outweighed his ability to uphold his professional responsibility in both the medical and financial fields,” DeSarno said in the release. “He failed to act in the best interests of his clients and instead robbed them of their financial security, in this specific instance, he also ended a life.”
