Registered rep gets 68 months in jail for stealing $1M from elderly

A former registered representative with PrimeVest Financial Services in Jersey City has been sentenced to 68 months in federal prison, after admitting that he stole more than $1 million from eight elderly clients. At his sentencing Wednesday, 46-year-old Brian Anderson of Oradell also was ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution. Anderson pleaded guilty in March to a single count of embezzlement. At his plea hearing, Mr. Anderson confessed that he misled elderly clients into withdrawing money from their bank accounts between 2002 to 2006, according to documents from the U.S. District Attorney's office in New Jersey. Mr. Anderson stopped working for PrimeVest in October 2007, according to a spokesman for the firm. Mr. Anderson noted that these elderly clients were under the impression that he would invest their money. Instead, he deposited the money into an account he controlled and kept it for his personal use, according to the District Attorney's office. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.