Financial Advisor Charged With Fraud Scheme Totaling More Than $3 Million

PHILADELPHIA - An indictment was unsealed today charging Malcolm Segal, 69, of Langhorne, PA, with six counts of mail fraud, and three counts of wire fraud, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger.  Segal was a financial advisor with Aegis Capital Corporation at the time of the alleged scheme to steal funds from individuals who thought they were investing their money in Certificates of Deposit, and from investors who held funds in brokerage accounts at Aegis.

According to the indictment, between July 2011 and July 2014, Segal told client B.P. that Mercantile Bank and Bear Stearns were offering Certificates of Deposit (CDs) that were paying an annual interest rate of up to 12% with a minimum two-year investment of $100,000.  Segal allegedly told individuals that he could sell them these CDs through Aegis.  The indictment alleges that Segal accepted at least $100,000 from each of six victims, represented that he had purchased CDs on their behalf when he had not, mailed fraudulent deposit confirmations from National CD Sales Inc. to the victims, and mailed the victims checks which he represented as interest payments.  According to the indictment, Segal used his victims’ money to pay personal expenses and to pay off other investors instead of purchasing CDs on behalf of the victims as promised.  Segal allegedly stole an aggregate total of approximately $1,885,067.10 from the victims, representing the purchase price of the CDs less the purported interest payments.  The indictment also alleges that Segal stole approximately $1,218,183.60 from the brokerage accounts of three of his clients at Aegis by making unauthorized wire transfers of funds from those brokerage accounts to a bank account controlled by Segal.

If convicted of all charges, Segal faces a potential advisory guideline sentencing range of 57 to 71 months in prison with a statutory maximum sentence of 180 years in prison.

The case was investigated by FBI and the United States Postal Inspection Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joel D. Goldstein.

An Indictment is an accusation.  A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.