CHICAGO — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), published as received.

CHICAGO — A Chicago financial adviser has been sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison for swindling more than $3 million from clients, including a man who received compensation from the State of Illinois in a wrongful conviction settlement.

MARCUS E. BOGGS represented to clients and his employer, an investment advisory firm, that he would use client funds to buy and sell securities.  In reality, Boggs spent more than $3 million of his clients’ funds over a ten-year period to pay his personal credit cards and the mortgage on his residence.  His credit card purchases included international vacations, expensive dinners at restaurants, and rent for multiple apartments that Boggs leased in Chicago. 

One of the defrauded clients was wrongfully imprisoned for several years after being convicted of a 1991 sexual assault, kidnapping, and murder of a teenage girl.  After DNA testing exonerated the client and led to his release from prison, he received approximately $5 million from the State of Illinois and retained Boggs to manage and invest some of the money.  Boggs instead stole approximately $800,000 of the client’s funds.

Boggs, 51, of Chicago, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a charge of wire fraud.  In addition to the 36-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland on Thursday ordered Boggs to pay more than $3.08 million in restitution to the victims.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.  Valuable assistance was provided by the Chicago Regional Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed a civil enforcement action against Boggs.

“Defendant had a personal relationship with his clients and knew what they hoped to achieve with their life savings and retirement,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John D. Mitchell argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.  “But that didn’t stop him from stealing their hard-earned money.”