A former Indiana monetary advisor who stole greater than $4.6 million from a shopper has been sentenced to 4 years in federal jail , in response to the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of Indiana.

Christopher Turean, 43, of Fishers, Ind., was sentenced on Wednesday by U.S. District Court docket Decide Matthew P. Brookman. He was additionally ordered to be supervised by the U.S. Probation Workplace for 3 years following his launch and pay $6,417,746 in restitution.

Turean pleaded responsible to wire fraud and submitting a tax return in November.

Prosecutors stated Turean, who was employed by Valeo Monetary Advisors from September 2012 to February 2022, started dipping into his shopper’s funding funds for his private use round 2015. Prosecutors stated the shopper believed that Turean was investing the cash on his behalf in actual property.

Turean, prosecutors stated, created an organization known as SCNT LLC in July 2019 and opened a checking account at JP Morgan Chase Financial institution the place he additionally held a private checking account. He started transferring the shopper’s funds into the SCNT account and would then transfer it to his private account, prosecutors stated, noting that the shopper authorised the cash transfers based mostly on “Turean’s fraudulent representations that SCNT was getting used to put money into actual property.”

Prosecutors stated Turean supplied bogus web price statements to the shopper, one in all which confirmed that the shopper had $1.2 million invested in “SCNT LLC Actual Property Fund,” which included 5 properties.

In complete, Turean stole $4,692,500 from the sufferer, utilizing the cash on sports activities playing web sites corresponding to DraftKings and FanDuel. He additionally used $1,053,062.94 from the SCNT account to pay the stability of a house fairness line of credit score secured by his private residence, prosecutors stated.

Prosecutors stated Turean additionally filed a false earnings tax return reporting that his earnings was $429,916, concealing about $1,745,246 in taxes owed.

Turean started his profession with Hufford Monetary Advisors in 2010. He joined Valeo Monetary Advisor in 2012 and remained there till 2022, when he was fired for “misappropriation oof buyer funds,” in response to BrokerCheck. The Ceritfied Board of Monetary Skilled completely revoked Turean’s license in August 2022 for failing to answer a request for info associated to the theft allegation.

The Inside Income Service started investigating Turean on the time of his firing. “Turean abused his place of belief by stealing from his buyers for his personal egocentric functions. He not solely violated the legislation, however he additionally betrayed the belief and confidence of his buyers who relied on him to behave of their greatest pursuits,” Justin Campbell, particular agent in cost with IRS Prison Investigation in Chicago, stated in an announcement. “This case ought to function a stark reminder of the very important significance of safeguarding one’s private funds and remaining vigilant in opposition to those that search to use their positions of belief for private acquire,”