Former Wells, Morgan Stanley adviser pleads guilty to check fraud

A former Wells Fargo & Co. and Morgan Stanley adviser has pleaded guilty to allegations he stole nearly $2 million from the accounts of an elderly widow.
Officials said Adorean Boleancu wrote forged checks against his client’s brokerage and home equity lines of credit to pay family members, a girlfriend and his personal credit card bills. Mr. Boleancu obtained more than $1.8 million from the fraud, prosecutors said.
As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Mr. Boleancu admitted to a single count of wire fraud, Melinda Haag, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, said in a statement Tuesday. Prosecutors and defense lawyers will ask the judge to give Mr. Boleancu a three-year and five-month sentence and a fine to be determined.
In March, the 47-year-old Napa, Calif., resident agreed to repay his former client $650,000 plus interest and consented to a permanent ban from the securities industry to resolve civil charges with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. Mr. Boleancu did not admit or deny the findings.
The client, who was 77 when she opened the Morgan Stanley brokerage account in 2007, was identified as Donna Treadwell by Mr. Boleancu’s lawyer. Mr. Boleancu moved to Wells Fargo Advisors with Ms. Treadwell’s account in 2008 and continued the scheme until 2011, according to the indictment.
Finra described Ms. Treadwell as an “unsophisticated and inexperience investor who relied completely on the professional advice and experience of Boleancu for her investments and safekeeping of her assets.”
Mr. Boleancu, who was indicted in July after a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is currently free on $800,000 bond pending a sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg on Dec. 17 in San Francisco.
A call Wednesday to the San Francisco law firm that represents Mr. Boleancu was not returned.