A former Hamilton financial advisor, has pleaded guilty to fraud including defrauding 3.1 million from a good friend.
Scott Reeves worked through Reeves Financial Services Inc. and three other companies, and acted out his scams from Jan. 1, 2002 and June 30, 2014. Last Wednesday Reeves pleaded guilty to fraud in the midst of his trial.
Assistant Crown attorney James Vincelli told the court that Reeves is 43, a long time resident of Hamilton, and has provided a broad range of financial services to clients in the city and area for 25 years.
His many victims included a doctor who was friends with reeves for over 20 years, a professional dog groomer and even a family member was caught up in his scams. Two of the victims were left destitute after giving their money to Reeves to invest for their retirement. Reeves then used that invested money for personal use and to cover his business expenses.
The victims invested their money with the Hamilton financial advisor in mutual funds, but then on his advice, transferred them through him to Guaranteed Income Certificates at credit unions or banks — or so they thought.
Some, when they became suspicious, contacted the credit union or bank where their GICs were supposed to be invested, only to learn the institutions had no record of them.
Two cases involved inheritance money the victims wanted invested for their future.
Vincelli said the doctor “believed his money was properly invested for future financial security. Instead, Scott Reeves took advantage of his friend, taking his money and using it to pay for his business and personal expenses.”
The dog groomer “gave Scott Reeves her life savings and trusted him to invest money in low-risk investments so she would have money in her retirement,” Vincelli said.
Read the full story over at The Hamilton Spectator.
