Acton Financial Advisor Stole Millions From Clients: Officials

BOSTON — An Acton investment advisor and financial planner pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing more than $3.7 million from more than 20 clients over a 10-year period when authorities determined he filtered client funds into his own personal accounts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced.

Gerald Eaton, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft on Wednesday and is scheduled to be sentenced in early 2021, according to a news release.

According to officials, Eaton worked as a certified financial planner and did business under the name of Heritage Financial Group. According to the complaint, Eaton invested client funds in securities and various insurance products, including life insurance policies and annuities. Authorities say between 1999 and 2019, Eaton stole nearly $4 million in client money from their accounts through selling securities, insurance policies and other accounts and had the proceeds moved to accounts that he either owned or personally controlled.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that during this time, Eaton also forged clients’ signatures on checks and other financial documents or convinced clients to sign documents that he said would lead to proceeds that would benefit his clients financially. Instead, authorities said he filtered funds to his credit card accounts to pay his personal and family expenses and also filtered money to a home equity line of credit. The complaint states that Eaton defrauded clients that he believed either would not notice money was gone from their accounts and also targeted clients who were elderly and were in poor physical or mental condition.

Eaton also lied to his firm and to various insurance companies that the transactions he was brokering were being carried out to benefit his clients, authorities said in the complaint against Eaton.

Eaton faces up to 20 years in prison for the mail and wire fraud charges along with three years of supervised probation and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain/loss, whichever is greater, the news release stated. The identity theft charge carries a two-year sentence, which would be served consecutive to any other prison sentence, one year of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 and restitution.

In addition to the prison sentence he faces, Eaton has been barred from working in the securities industry by the Securities and Exchange Commission.