A former registered rep with Suntrust and M&T was sentenced to three 1/2 years in jail for stealing greater than $1 million from an aged consumer over 17 years.
Eddy Ray Blizzard initially pleaded responsible in Maryland federal courtroom to financial institution fraud in late December and confronted a harsher most sentence of 30 years. FBI Particular Agent in Cost William J. DelBagno mentioned Blizzard deserved “yearly” he’d spend behind bars.
“The sufferer spent his life working diligently, saving for retirement and constructing an inheritance for his family members,” he mentioned. “Blizzard not solely stole 1,000,000 {dollars} however took away their safety and peace of thoughts.”
In line with FINRA information, Blizzard started his profession at UBS in 2001 earlier than shifting to Allfirst after which M&T in 2003, the place he stayed for 11 years earlier than shifting to Suntrust in 2014. Suntrust fired him in 2017.
Blizzard’s scheme focused an unnamed aged investor with the moniker “R.M.” in courtroom paperwork. R.M. was a retired air-con technician who’d labored at a Baltimore-based firm for 30 years.
Six months after retiring, R.M. determined to take a position his retirement funds to create an inheritance for his grandchildren and went to M&T, the place he held depository accounts. He quickly met Blizzard, who started working at M&T shortly after R.M. began to take a position and have become his advisor.
Blizzard requested R.M. if he would proceed working with him if he went unbiased. He mentioned it might be a while earlier than he had his personal workplace and would proceed to work out of the M&T workplace. However Blizzard by no means grew to become an unbiased monetary advisor.
As soon as a month, R.M. would drive an hour from his house in Chester, Md., to satisfy Blizzard in his automobile within the parking zone of his M&T workplace; these conferences would final 30 to 45 minutes and continued for years, with Blizzard by no means revealing why they had been assembly in his automobile and never an workplace.
Blizzard started asking R.M. for clean checks, with the consumer recalling that he had given the advisor about 15-20 signed clean checks. Unbeknownst to R.M., Blizzard used these checks for his personal functions. (Proof uncovered later indicated he’d used the cash for property taxes, building, boat funds and down funds on a brand new house.)
At the least 12 occasions, R.M. went to his native financial institution to withdraw money, the place he was instructed there wasn’t sufficient cash within the account. R.M. would name Blizzard, who would inform him to attend a day or two, however he didn’t ask why his accounts had no funds.
Issues got here to a head in 2019 when R.M. ready for a household trip, solely to search out inadequate funds within the account. R.M. tried calling Blizzard for every week and not using a response earlier than going to his house and knocking on the back and front doorways.
Whereas there, R.M. received a name from Blizzard, saying neighbors had known as him complaining in regards to the noise. Blizzard mentioned that the entire consumer’s cash was gone, that he’d tried suicide and was hospitalized. (He later admitted there was no suicide try.)
Along with stealing from R.M.’s retirement funds, Blizzard additionally pilfered his Social Safety revenue. R.M. additionally believed that Blizzard was dealing with the cost of his mortgage, however within the fall of 2019, the person’s house was put into foreclosures as a result of the advisor hadn’t made the mortgage funds.
The next March, R.M. died on the age of 75, in response to the Division of Justice.