Financial advisor gets 7 years for stealing $300K from 90-year-old client
John Boston was convicted of stealing from a woman who entrusted him to manage her finances after receiving an inheritance.
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An Essex County financial advisor was sentenced to seven years in state prison for stealing more than $300,000 from an elderly client who had entrusted him to help manage her finances, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
John Boston, 50, of Verona, was convicted in May of theft and theft by failure to make required disposition following a six-day trial in Essex County Superior Court.
The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said Boston agreed to manage the woman’s assets after she received an inheritance from her late brother. In June 2017, when she was 90, Boston obtained durable financial power of attorney from her.
Evidence presented at trial showed Boston stole more than $300,000 through ATM withdrawals, bank transfers and other transactions, depleting the woman’s accounts in less than two years. He failed to meet her financial obligations, neglected her care and later diverted her Social Security benefits for his own use, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Boston was a registered financial advisor but did not have his employer’s authorization to provide financial advisory services to the woman and did not register her as a client, as required by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Boston resigned from his position in the securities industry in 2019 and has not been registered in New Jersey since, according to the attorney general.
