A former Morris County Investment Adviser who pleaded guilty to organizing a $1.178 million Securities and Annuities fraud scheme was sentenced to seven years in prison Monday in Somerset County Superior Court.
Janet Fooshee, 63, pleaded guilty in December to 31 of 37 charges contained in a pair of indictments brought against her in 2012 and 2013.
Janet FoosheeThe courtroom was packed with victims. Outside the courtroom, victims declined to comment, but one joyfully said to a group, “It was great to see her led out in handcuffs.”
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. Fooshee was sentenced before Superior Court Judge Edward M. Coleman.
Under the plea deal, Fooshee has also agreed to pay $415,000 in restitution to the victims, some of whom lived in a retirement community where she volunteered to be a bookkeeper.
“Janet Fooshee will spend time in prison for trading on her expertise as an investment adviser to facilitate a devious fraud scheme that harmed investors who trusted her with their hard-earned money,” said Acting Insurance Fraud Investigator Christopher Iu in a statement. “Ms. Fooshee’s seven-year prison sentence demonstrates the Office of Insurance Fraud’s commitment to holding accountable any fraudster who preys on innocent, unsuspecting investors.”
Her husband, Richard Fooshee, 64, an attorney, had pleaded guilty to second-degree charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and securities fraud. He was accepted in the Pre-Trial Intervention program.
Janet Fooshee, also known as Janet Gurley and Janet Katz, admitted during her guilty plea to illegally taking money from more than two dozen retirees and other clients over a 10-year stretch beginning in 2003.
Janet Fooshee, who now lives in Lambertville, also admitted to fraudulently servicing more than 100 financial account statements that increased 14 of her clients’ accounts by a combined $818,000, stealing approximately $151,000 from four clients, pocketing more than $191,539 in unlawful investment adviser fees, bilking another client out of nearly $81,000, and stealing the identities of approximately eight corporations.
Janet Fooshee was an investment adviser who worked at Wachovia Securities, Inc. before forming Janet Gurley Katz LLC in 2003.
In the commission of her crimes, she admitted to fraudulently using the logos of Fidelity Investments, Dreyfus, Alliance Bernstein, Wells Fargo, Transamerica Life Insurance Company, ING, AIG Life Insurance Company, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and JMB Realty Corporation.
Janet Fooshee pleaded guilty to second-degree identity theft, second-degree conspiracy, second -degree securities fraud, second-degree theft by unlawful taking, second-degree misapplication of entrusted property, third-degree identity theft, fourth-degree forgery and fourth-degree falsifying or tampering with records.
