WASHINGTON – A long-time tax and financial advisor was sentenced Monday to four years and three 
months in prison for stealing more than $255,000 from 26 clients, mostly elderly victims, according to officials.
Jeffrey N. Knutsen, 43, owned and operated Bellwether Financial Services dba Bellwether Wealth Management.
In July 2005, Knutsenwas barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority from associating with any broker-dealer as a stock broker because of a customer complaint that Knutsenhad embezzled from the client’s account.
The regulatory agency regulates financial brokers and brokerage firms.
At sentencing U.S. District Judge James L. Robart noted that Knutsen continued a career of misappropriating money saying, “This is a crime of greed—pure unadulterated greed—plain and simple.”
“This fraud damaged the elderly victims emotionally as well as financially,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “They trusted Jeffrey Knutsen to honestly invest their savings so they could enjoy a secure retirement. Now they are betrayed and wary as they try to safeguard any savings they have left.”
According to records filed in the case, after being barred by the regulatory authority, Knutsen did not tell his clients that he had been barred, but instead told them he was moving to a different online brokerage to reduce the fees they would have to pay.
He set up online accounts with TD Ameritrade and later E*Trade in his clients’ names and retained full access and control over the accounts, including check-writing privileges.
He told the clients he would charge them a management fee of one percent or less per year to manage their accounts. However over seven and a half years he caused the online broker/dealers to issue more than 200 checks for more than $250,000 without the authorization or knowledge of his clients.
Knutsen then deposited the checks in his account and used the money for his personal gain.
Many of the victims were elderly and had little understanding of online brokerage accounts.