Adviser who led double life gets 17 years for $20M fraud

A federal judge has sentenced a Massachusetts adviser to more than 17 years in prison for committing a fraud that netted him more than $20 million from the descendants of a 19th-century industrialist and using the money on personal extravagances, including three private jets. John Doorly, was also ordered Tuesday to pay a $1 million fine for stealing from the Tenens Corp. The company was created to manage trusts for descendants of the late Frederick Ayer Jr., who owned textile mills in nearby Lowell. A representative for the Ayers family told InvestmentNews last year that Mr. Doorly allegedly used the money to purchases homes for his own family — and mistress — and to support his "double life." (Read the full story here.) "Doorly looted this family out of tens of millions of dollars and joins the likes of disgraced money manager [Bernard] Madoff," stated Will Nystrom, an attorney at Boston-based law firm Nystrom Beckman and Paris LLP, in March 2009. Mr. Doorly's indictment at that time, he continued, "clearly spells out how Doorly led a 'double life' and exploited the trust of his victims" A 2008 lawsuit by Tenens against its auditors estimated the theft at $57 million. Mr. Doorly pleaded guilty to mail fraud and money laundering in November. [The Associated Press contributed to this article.]