Man Pleads Guilty To Stealing At Least $10M From Fmr. Clients
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Eden Prairie man plead guilty Wednesday to using his financial planning firm to operate a Ponzi scheme to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars from former clients, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger.
Sean Meadows, 41, plead guilty to three counts of mail fraud, seven counts of wire fraud and money laundering offenses.
According to the court documents, Meadows used his financial planning and asset management firm, Meadows Financial Group, to sell insurance and investment products to clients in Minnesota, Indiana, Arizona and other areas.
From 2007 to April of 2014, Meadows was able to obtain at least $10 million from more than 50 clients.
According to his guilty plea, Meadows said he told victims he would use their funds to purchase bonds, real estate or other investments when instead he used it to make interest payments, or repayments, to existing investors.
The guilty plea stated Meadows was able to get the victims to remove money from their retirement accounts or other savings accounts by promising a high rate of return.
Meadows instead used the money to pay personal expenses, making payments to himself, his wife, paying off credit card bills or gambling.