Texas financial advisor gets life in fraud scheme that led to friend’s death, police say

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)

A North Texas man was sentenced to life in federal prison for investment fraud that led to the killing of a friend, the Carrollton Police Department announced in a news release Thursday.

Keith Todd Ashley, 51, was found guilty in October 2022 on charges of wire, mail, and bank fraud, and firearm violations.

Carrollton Police Chief Roberto Arredondo said in the news release that Ashley “went to great lengths to steal clients’ life savings and even kill to gain control of their finances.”

Ashley was a registered nurse who began working as a financial advisor and life insurance agent. He stole more than $1 million from his clients, according to the release.

He promised his clients he would invest their money in financial products, but used the money to for other reasons including to help keep his struggling brewery business alive, pay personal debts, and to “fund a lavish lifestyle,” police said.

In May 2016, Ashley started stealing investment funds from his friend, Jim Seegan, from Carrollton.

Ashley transferred Seegan’s funds into his own accounts and changed the beneficiary of Seegan’s life insurance policy to a trust Ashley controlled, according to the release.

The scheme resulted in the 2020 death of Seegan, which Ashley staged to look like a suicide, police said in the release. He was arrested and charged with murder in November 2020.

The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office may continue pursuing state murder charges, according to police.