Ex-Albany broker gets up to 16 years in Ponzi scheme

A former Albany investment broker this morning received a sentence of up to 16 years in state prison for bilking clients out of more than $5 million in a decade-long Ponzi scheme, the state Attorney General’s Office said.

Frederick E. Monroe, Jr., 59, of Queensbury, pleaded guilty in Albany County Court in December to a scheme to defraud, along with charges of grand larceny, money laundering and securities fraud.

He admitted then to luring longtime clients in and diverting their monies for his personal use. He also used incoming money to pay back earlier investors he’d defrauded, officials said.

Attorney General’s officials listed areas where Monroe spent money, including $785,000 on a personal credit card, mortgage and other bank payments, $275,000 on retail purchases and home expenses, and $235,000 on automobiles and related expenses.

Judge Peter A. Lynch sentenced Monroe to 5.3 to 16 years in state prison and will have a judgment against him and in favor of his former clients for more than $3 million.

“When New Yorkers hire financial professionals to invest their hard-earned retirement savings, they deserve honest and transparent services,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. “From the biggest financial institutions to individual investment brokers, my office will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute complex financial crimes and securities fraud.”

Monroe orchestrated the scheme from 2002 until his arrest in June 2015. He was serving as senior vice president at Capital Financial Planning in Guilderland at the time of his arrest, officials said.

The Attorney General’s investigation, however, determined Monroe had been stealing from clients since he worked at Northwestern Mutual Investment Services in Latham. He advertised his services on the Capital Financial Planning website.

Among the targets of his fraud, the Attorney General’s Office said, were members of Monroe’s family.

Monroe committed his fraud by telling clients to give him cash or write checks to him personally. He then created false financial statements when clients inquired about their investments.

Reach Gazette reporter Steven Cook at 395-3122, [email protected] or @ByStevenCook on Twitter.