Here's How A Shorewood Man Stole $800,000 From 3 Clients: SEC

SHOREWOOD, IL — Last week, Northern District of Illinois U.S. Attorney John Lausch announced a six-count federal wire fraud indictment against 61-year-old Shorewood resident Ronald Molo, who was fired last summer from his Edward Jones Investments office in Joliet.

In addition to the criminal indictment, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit last week against Molo, Joliet Patch has learned.

"All of the investors are senior citizens," the SEC's complaint states. "Without the investors’ knowledge or authorization, Molo stole a total of $800,000 of their money by convincing them to transfer money out of their financial institution accounts for the purported investment in tax-free bonds. In fact, the bonds did not exist."

Unsure whether Molo was in federal custody, Joliet Patch rang the doorbell at Molo's house on South Majestic Pine Street on Tuesday afternoon.

A gray-haired man opened the door, and when Joliet Patch's editor identified himself, the man declined to comment when asked if he were Molo. When Patch asked if there was a specific criminal defense attorney who was representing him in his federal wire fraud case, the man again declined to comment.

In any event, the SEC's 12-page complaint outlines how the financial fraud was detected and how the Joliet financial investment advisor misspent nearly $800,000 during the past three years.

"Molo did not tell the investors that he owned the account to which he directed them to transfer their money," the federal complaint against Molo stated. "Instead of investing the money as Molo had promised, he misused at least $778,000 of the investors’ money for his own personal use.

"Molo also tried to cover up his fraud by sending approximately $22,000 of the investors’ money back to the investors for supposed interest payments from the nonexistent bonds, using altered cashier’s checks from his bank, funded with money drawn from Molo’s own personal account. When the Financial Institution discovered Molo’s fraud, it fired him."

According to the SEC's complaint, "Molo misused the investors’ money for his personal use, including at least:

• $132,457 to pay off the mortgage of a Molo relative;
• $116,812 for Molo’s mortgage payments;
• $80,920 to pay Molo’s attorney relating to a previous lawsuit;
• $52,000 to pay Molo’s relatives;
• $39,053 related to Molo’s purchase and repair of automobiles;
• $28,675 to Molo’s housing association;
• $25,636 for renovations to Molo’s house;
• $15,289 in withdrawals of cash;

"Neither Client A, Client B, nor Customer C were aware that Molo was using the funds in their accounts at the Financial Institution to make transfers to Molo’s personal account for his own personal benefit," lawyers for the SEC contend. "They did not authorize, and would not have authorized, Molo to make such transfers if they had known that the transfers were being made to Molo’s personal account or that Molo would use their money for his own personal benefit."

There is one section contained in the SEC's lawsuit labeled, "Molo’s Scheme Falls Apart."

"In May 2021, one of the investors called Molo’s office because she had not received an interest check from one of the purported bond issuers for the second quarter of 2021," court documents show. "An employee of the Financial Institution tried to address the issue for the investor but could not find any information about the purported bond issuer in the investor’s file or elsewhere. The employee left a note for Molo on the Financial Institution’s internal communication system, but Molo deleted it and did not contact the investor."

In the weeks ahead, Edward Jones did its own investigation "and interviewed Molo, and determined that he had not invested the investors’ money in the bonds as he had claimed. At the end of the interview, the Financial Institution terminated Molo," the SEC lawsuit noted.

As for the three Joliet victims who lost a combined $800,000 from Molo's scheme, all three have been compensated for their losses.

"The Financial Institution has fully reimbursed the investors for the money that Molo misappropriated, with interest," lawyers for the SEC outlined in their federal complaint.