Former LPL Financial rep gets more than five years for Ponzi scheme

A former LPL Financial adviser based in North Carolina was sentenced to more than five-years in prison for running a $1.4 million Ponzi scheme that operated under the name Robin Hood. The former adviser, Charles Fackrell, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in April and was sentenced last week to 63 months in jail, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Western Didistrict of North Carolina. Mr. Fackrell, of Booneville, N.C., was also ordered to serve three years under court supervision after he is released from prison and to pay almost $820,000 in restitution to clients. From May 2012 to December 2014, Mr. Fackrell ran his Ponzi scheme, misusing funds from at least 20 clients. He was a registered broker with LPL during that time. Mr. Fackrell “used his position of trust to solicit victim investors and steer them away from legitimate investments to purported investments with” various “Robin Hood” named entities, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. “These were entities [Mr.] Fackrell controlled and through which he could access the victim's funds.” (More: Minnesota adviser gets six-year prison sentence for Ponzi scheme ) An LPL spokesman, Jeffrey Mochal, was not immediately available to comment. Promising guaranteed annual returns of 5% to 7%, Mr. Fackrell “solicited his victim investors by making false and fraudulent representations, including that the investors' money would be invested in, or secured by, gold and other precious metals,” according to the U.S. attorney. In fact, Mr. Fackrell spent only a fraction of investor money on such assets, the government claims, and diverted over $700,000 back to his investors in the fashion of a Ponzi scheme. He used the balance of the money to cover personal expenditures, including hotel expenses, groceries and medical bills, and to make purchases at various retail shops and to make large cash withdrawals, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Mr. Fackrell has eight pending customer disputes filed against him, according to his BrokerCheck report. (See: Financial adviser pleads guilty to theft of more than $1.6 million )