Stock Broker Charged With Defrauding Elderly Client

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Feb 05, 2007

February 1, 2007

A Wellesley stock broker was charged today in federal court with defrauding one of his elderly clients of over $400,000.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Sharon E. Ormsby, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England, announced today that STEPHEN J. TOUSSAINT, age 43, of 84 Whittier Road, Wellesley, Massachusetts, was charged in an eleven count indictment with securities fraud, wire fraud, making false statements to federal agents, and structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements.

The indictment alleges that between October of 2002 and February of 2004, TOUSSAINT, who at the time was a licensed broker at A.G. Edwards and Sons, Inc., and then Oppenheimer and Co., Inc, defrauded one of his elderly widowed clients of $465,800. The indictment alleges that TOUSSAINT did so by forging checks from his client's brokerage accounts and depositing them into his own personal accounts. According to the indictment, each time TOUSSAINT deposited a forged check, he caused some of his client's assets in money market mutual funds to be liquidated and wired to his personal accounts. The indictment further alleges that TOUSSAINT then withdrew the stolen funds from his accounts in amounts less than $10,000 so as to avoid arousing suspicion from financial institutions. Finally, the indictment alleges that, TOUSSAINT lied to federal investigators when confronted about the scheme.

If convicted on these charges, TOUSSAINT faces up to 25 years' imprisonment on the fraud charges and up to 5 years on the false statement and structuring charges, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Waqar Hasib in Sullivan’s Economic Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.