More than $400,000 was allegedly used to cover personal expenses, including casino gambling debts and a luxury car
A fired advisor is facing criminal charges accusing him of fleecing his former clients of hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover personal expenses, including casino gambling debts and leasing a luxury car.
Between May 2, 2019 and June 11, 2019, former Janney Montgomery Scott broker Apostolos Pitsironis allegedly initiated 22 transfers for a total of approximately $411,000 from one of his clients’ investment accounts at an unidentified “financial services firm”, according to a report by financialadvisoriq.com.
Pitsironis’ career also includes spells with Morgan Stanley, RBC Captal Markets and Wells Fargo.
It is alleged that Pitsironis lied to Janney that the client’s spouse owned the bank account to which the money was being transferred and had authorized the transfers. Pitsironis is accused of then moving the money to other bank accounts he controlled.
If convicted of wire fraud, Pitsironis could face up to 20 years in prison.
Janney discharged Pitsironis in June 2019 “after an internal investigation uncovered that the FA transferred funds via unauthorized ACHs from a client’s account to a third party bank account owned and controlled by the FA,” according to BrokerCheck.
