Ex-adviser gets 2 1/2 years for stealing $600,000 from elderly client

Former financial adviser Matthew O. Clason was sentenced last month to 2½ years — 30 months — in prison after he pleaded guilty in May to one count of wire fraud in federal court in Hartford, Connecticut, stemming from his theft of $600,000 from an elderly client.

Clason was also ordered to pay $639,580 in restitution.

Clason was registered with Lincoln Financial Advisors until 2016, when he moved his registration to LPL Financial.

His attorney, Frank J. Riccio, was not immediately available Wednesday to comment. Clason, who was released on bond, is required to report to prison at the end of next month.

According to the Department of Justice, starting in 2015, Clason provided investment services to a 73-year-old Connecticut resident. The client had at least five investments accounts with Clason, and in January 2018, Clason and the victim opened a joint bank account. 

From 2018 through August 2020, Clason transferred more than $668,000 from the victim’s investment accounts into the joint bank account and, without the victim’s knowledge or authorization, withdrew more than $621,000 in cash from the account for his personal use, according to the Department of Justice.

LPL Financial “discharged,” meaning fired, Clason last August as the charges surfaced, according to his BrokerCheck profile. Clason was also fired from a registered investment adviser, Integrated Wealth Concepts, around that time.