Securities & Stock Broker Fraud Blog
Miller Stern Lawyers – 410-Law-Firm is currently investigating for individuals who may be victims of, and suffered damages and losses, due to stock market and financial abuses such fraud, mutual fund abuses, unsuitable mutual fund investments, failure to supervise, breach of fiduciary duty, overcharging , and unauthorized trading and elder abuse, and past clients of Marcus Boggs, for, among other things, fraud.
A former Merrill Lynch broker in Chicago pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Friday, admitting he stole more than $3 million from multiple clients for personal expenses, including luxury hotel stays and expensive meals, according to public documents.
Marcus Boggs, CRD#5055667, who spent his entire 12-year brokerage career with Merrill, entered the plea during a virtual hearing before U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland in the Northern District of Illinois. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for wire fraud, according to the agreement.
The former broker admitted to defrauding at least eight clients between 2008 and 2018 and using the funds to pay for “international travel, expensive meals at restaurants, rents at multiple apartments, and the mortgage on his personal residence,” the agreement said, according to advisor hub and public documents.
A Merrill spokesman reiterated an earlier statement noting that the firm fired Boggs, promptly notified authorities and cooperated with federal and regulatory investigations. Affected clients had been compensated, according to public documents.
Merrill, not named in the criminal complaint against Boggs, paid more than $7.5 million in settlements to his clients, according to FIHNRA’s BrokerCheck.
FINRA barred Boggs from the industry in January of 2019 for failing to respond to requests for information in its follow-up investigation of his firing.