Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
JAN 10, 2018
12:57 PM
Former financial planner Jeff Lewis was sentenced to federal prison this afternoon for 33 months for stealing $455,000 from a 94-year-old blind woman in Mercer County.
"This is one of the most despicable cases that I've seen, and I've been a judge for over 30 years," said U.S. District Judge David Cercone.
In addition to prison, he ordered Lewis to pay the money back to the woman's estate over the years.
Lewis promised that he would.
"I will do what's required of me to the best of my ability from here on forward," he said. "I just cannot imagine having done what I did. There simply is no excuse."
Lewis pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in September.
He ran Lewis Investments in Mercer County as the sole proprietor. He solicited Elaine Masters, a client whom he had known for 15 years, in 2015 to invest $60,000 in a Penn State housing project bond.
She gave him $58,000.
He then told her that her current advisor was incurring too many fees and that he could invest her money in safer products with higher returns.
In December 2015, he helped her open TD Ameritrade accounts and assisted her in wiring money from her account to the new ones.
Two weeks later he transferred $230,000 from Ms. Masters' Ameritrade accounts to his own bank account at First National Bank.
Then he started using the money for himself, including spending on gambling and a $37,000 Hummer.
Prosecutors said Ms. Masters has since lost weight and can't sleep, knowing she was victimized and her life savings wiped out. They said her family is low on money now and isn't sure about how they will be able to take care of her.
The judge said Lewis, who had no prior record beyond a drunk driving conviction, will be allowed to self-report to prison.
The U.S. attorney's office wanted him locked up immediately out of fear that he would use some of the stolen money to flee.
But Judge Cercone said if he intended to run, he would have already done it.
Lewis shuffled out of the courtroom with his father, with whom he now lives.