James Thomas Booth

James Thomas Booth, a 75-year old ex-LPL Financial broker from Norwalk, Connecticut, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $4.97 million for running an alleged Ponzi scheme.

Booth was sentenced on November 17^th following a guilty plea last year for defrauding customers of Booth Financial Associated, the financial services firm he owns. Booth allegedly executed a nearly $5 million Ponzi scheme from 2013 to 2019 by soliciting his clients to invest in securities business outside of his member firms and send their funds to Insurance Trends, Inc., an entity he owned and controlled. Booth then used investor funds for personal expenses and covered his tracks by fabricating account statements even though investments were never made. During this time, Booth was associated with Invest Financial Corporation from December 2005 to February 2018 and LPL Financial LLC from February 2018 to June 2019.

The court ordered Booth to pay restitution, which will be determined in a federal court in the coming weeks, along with his 3.5-year prison sentence and $4.97 million forfeiture.

Boothe’s FINRA BrokerCheck report reveals that over 30 customers have brought forth complaints concerning Booth misappropriating funds in this scheme. Settlement amounts have ranged from $18,000 to over $1.2 million, with numerous settlements over $250,000.