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Adam Belardino, the CEO of the Maddox Group, was arrested on Wednesday, April 27, and charged with wire fraud, according to Damian Williams, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“Adam Belardino abused the trust his client placed in him by stealing more than $313,000 the client gave him to be invested," Williams said. "Clients like the victim in this case need to be able to entrust their money to financial advisors with confidence that the money will be invested in a manner that is appropriate for them. This Office will aggressively pursue financial advisors and others who steal money entrusted to them by clients.”
Belardino, age 37, of New York City, allegedly convinced his client, a New Rochelle woman, to liquidate some of her portfolio and transfer the funds to Maddox to be invested, Williams said.
The victim transferred the $313,000 to the company in eight transactions between August of 2019 and October of 2020, according to the announcement.
Instead of investing the funds, Belardino allegedly used her money to "pay the operating expenses of Maddox, including payroll and office rent; to pay down prior debt; to pay credit card charges, which consisted primarily of personal items; and to pay for personal travel," Williams said.
In September of 2021, the victim asked Belardino to transfer her portfolio to her brokerage account at a different firm, the US Attorney's Office said.
Between September 2021 and February of this year, Belardino sent emails and texts claiming he was liquidating the portfolio and would return the money soon, Williams said.
He allegedly provided the woman's family with documents that said the wire transfer of the funds was pending, and deposited checks from Maddox accounts into the woman's bank account, claiming they were the full value of her portfolio, the US Attorney's Office reported.
Those checks were returned because the Maddox account didn't have funds to cover them, and the victim never received any funds by wire, Williams said.
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