Massachusetts Advisor Sentenced In $3M Fraud

BOSTON, Massachusetts, March 21 -- The U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Andrew E. Lelling, issued the following news release:

An Orleans investment adviser was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for defrauding her clients of more than $3 million and using those funds for her own expenses.

Kimberly Kitts, 51, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 87 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In November 2018, Kitts pleaded guilty to an Information charging her with one count of investment adviser fraud, four counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Beginning in 2011, Kitts engaged in various schemes to misappropriate her clients' assets in order to pay her personal expenses. In one scheme, she directed client assets to a bank account for Marquis Consulting, an entity she controlled. In another scheme, Kitts used her position as an investment adviser to divert her clients' funds to her own account and then took the funds for her own personal use. This included cashing her clients' annuities, transferring funds out of her clients' brokerage accounts and directing distributions from her clients' Individual Retirement Accounts. In total, Kitts misappropriated approximately $3,085,939 from her clients.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission provided valuable assistance with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom of Lelling's Securities and Financial Fraud Unit prosecuted case.