On August 4, 2016, Patrick Churchville, a defendant in an ongoing SEC lawsuit, pled guilty to charges including five counts of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion in connection with orchestrating a $21 million Ponzi scheme and additional misappropriation from funds he advised at ClearPath Wealth Management, LLC in Providence, RI. The court accepted Churchville’s plea and scheduled sentencing for October 25, 2016, according to the SEC report.

According to the SEC’s complaint, from at least December 2010, ClearPath and Churchville diverted deposits from investors to pay other investors, used proceeds from selling particular investments to pay unrelated investors, used investors’ funds as collateral for loans to make investments for their own benefit then used other investors’ money to repay the loans, and converted investor funds into investments for ClearPath’s own benefit.

Churchville borrowed money by using investors’ funds as collateral, without investors’ knowledge, and allegedly stole $2.5 million of the borrowed money in order to purchase his waterfront home in Barrington, Rhode Island. The complaint alleges that Churchville and ClearPath used a variety of deceptive acts and misleading accounting tricks to conceal their fraud from auditors, accountants, fund administrators, and their own staff.

In addition, there are criminal charges pending alleging that Churchville failed to report the $2.5 million as income on his tax returns, which resulted in a loss to the Internal Revenue Service of approximately $820,000 in personal income taxes.

Churchville worked in the securities industry for sixteen years, he was also financial advisor with Spire Securities in Providence, RI. from 08/2009 – 02/2011. If you suffered losses investing with Patrick Churchville, The White Law Group may be able to help. To discuss your investments with an experienced securities attorney, please call The White Law Group at 1-888-637-5510 for a free consultation.

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Vero Beach, Florida.

For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at www.WhiteSecuritiesLaw.com.