Fired rep admits stealing $600,000 from elderly client

A former LPL Financial and Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. broker on Wednesday pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in federal court in Hartford, Conn., stemming from his theft of $600,000 from a senior citizen client.

The broker, Matthew O. Clason, 39, was registered with Lincoln Financial Advisors until 2016, when he moved his registration to LPL. 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 to 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 bank account for his personal use, according to the Department of Justice.

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

A customer complaint for $1 million and involving Clason was settled last November, according to BrokerCheck, while another for close to $13,000 was settled this March.

Clason is scheduled to be sentenced in August and faces up to 20 years in prison.

"This is the first step in resolving the issues Mr. Clason is facing," said his attorney, Frank J. Riccio, in an interview Thursday.

Spokespersons for LPL Financial and Lincoln Financial Advisors did not comment by deadline.