A former stockbroker and investment adviser who touted his East Cobb community ties to clients has been sentenced to serve five years in prison for defrauding them of $1.4 million.
Sean Kelly, 50, pleaded guilty in January to federal charges of wire fraud and securities fraud. According to his sentence, which was announced Friday by Byung J. Pak, U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, Kelly also will be ordered to pay back the $1.4 million in restitution and will be on three years of supervised release when he leaves prison.
Kelly operated several businesses with the “Lions Share” name in office space on Roswell Road that offered brokerage, investment, tax and insurance services.
In a civil complaint filed by by the Securities and Exchange Commission last October, Kelly was the sole proprietor of Lion’s Share & Associates, Inc., Lion’s Share Tax Services, LLC, and Lion’s Share Financial of East Cobb, Inc.
Kelly also was associated with Capital Financial Services in a Marietta branch office from 2012-17, and with Marietta-based Center Street Securities in 2017-18.
After the SEC filing, the Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained a warrant and arrested Kelly.
Federal prosecutors allege that from January 2014 to October 2018, Kelly fraudulently accrued more than $1 million from 12 investors.
Instead of investing those funds as they directed, Kelly deposited investor’s checks in bank accounts he controlled, and spent the money on himself: For mortgage payments, Super Bowl tickets, vacations, and major cash withdrawals.
Prosecutors said those investors included elderly people, veterans and the disabled, and the SEC filing alleged that Kelly “treats Lion’s Share as his personal piggy bank.”
On a website aimed at Baby Boom-age investors, Kelly’s page asserted that his company and “the Kelly family support several community initiatives” that included being a coach for East Side Baseball and a past member of the parish council at Holy Family Catholic Church.
“Kelly never intended to fulfill his fiduciary responsibility to his clients, which included elderly citizens and veterans,” Pak said in a statement.
Said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta: The FBI is hopeful that Kelly’s sentence will send a strong message to anyone who would try to take advantage of unsuspecting clients for their own personal greed.”
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