An Indiana-based investment advisor will spend four years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling $4.6 million from a client, according to the Justice Department.
Christopher Turean was sentenced in federal court after pleading to wire fraud and filing false tax return charges. From 2012 to 2022, he worked at Valeo Financial Advisors, according to his IAPD profile, which is based out of Carmel, Ind.
According to the Department of Justice and a plea agreement submitted last November in Indiana federal court, in November 2015 an unnamed individual (named ‘Victim 1’ in the proceedings) became one of Turean’s clients. The client put their personal funds in an account managed by Valeo and held by Fidelity.
Initially, Turean invested their money “prudently,” often into real estate. But in July 2019, Turean formed a company called “SCNT LLC” and created a bank account for the company at JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Shortly thereafter, Turean began transferring money from Victim 1’s account into the SCNT account. After doing so, Turean began using the money for his own expenses and debts, including gambling and paying down a home equity loan.
In one case, Turean transferred $87,500 out of the client’s account into the SCNT account in September 2020. The following day, Turean used nearly $54,000 of that money toward the balance of a home equity line of credit which originated from Turean’s gambling expenses.
“Throughout the entire scheme to defraud, the defendant did not invest any of the money in the SCNT account for Victim 1 on real estate or anything else despite Victim 1’s belief that the money would be invested by the defendant,” the plea agreement read.
Turean also kept Valeo in the dark about what he was doing. At numerous points, he described the investment in a database as “SCNT Hotel LLC,” “SCNT LLC Multi Family,” and “SCNT Real Estate Fund.”
Additionally, Turean didn’t report the stolen income on his taxes, resulting in false returns concealing about $1,745,246 in taxes owed, according to the Justice Department.
“(Turean) not only violated the law, but he also betrayed the trust and confidence of his investors who relied on him to act in their best interests,” FBI Special Agent Justin Campbell said in a statement about the sentencing.