Crime & Safety

Buffalo Grove Stockbroker Ripped Off His Mother-in-Law to Finance His Infidelities

Gary Clark Steciuk stole $2.3 million from 18 victims to pay for houses, luxuries and affairs. How much prison time was that worth?

A Buffalo Grove stockbroker was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud, having bilked his clients out of millions to finance his life of luxury and marital infidelity.

His victims included his mother-in-law and his step-grandmother.

Gary Clark Steciuk, 39, appeared in federal court in Baltimore, MD, on Friday, and was also ordered to pay restitution after entering his plea. The U.S. Attorney made the case he embezzled from at least 18 of his clients’ retirement and college-savings accounts, forging forms to change addresses to a Maryland post office box.

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In all, he took about $2.3 million over six years. He used some of the money to buy several houses for himself.

Steciuk was a stockbroker who worked primarily out of his home in Buffalo Grove. Steciuk was authorized to sell stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds and variable annuities. In 2009, Steciuk established a business, College Funding Solutions, ostensibly to provide investment advice to clients interested in investing and saving for college expenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore.

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According to his plea agreement, from May 2008 to August 2014, Steciuk embezzled funds from his clients’ investment accounts. Many of his victims were elderly.

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