Woman pleads guilty to 31 of 37 charges.
Janet FoosheeSOMERVILLE --A former Morris County Investment Adviser pleaded guilty to 31 of 37 charges contained in two indictments brought against her in 2012 and 2013 to organizing a $1.178 million Securities and Annuities fraud scheme, the Attorney General's Office and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor announced Monday afternoon.
Janet Fooshee, 63, who now lives in Maine, admitted to fabricating and mailing more than 100 financial account statements that inflated 14 of her clients' accounts by a combined $818,000 on Friday before Somerset County Superior Court Judge Edward M. Coleman in Somerville.
Janet Fooshee also admitted to stealing approximately $151,000 from four clients, receiving more than $191,539 in unlawful investment adviser fees, defrauding another client out of almost $81,000, and stealing the identities of at least eight corporations.
Janet Fooshee, also known as Janet Gurley and Janet Katz, admitted defrauding more than two dozen retirees and others over a 10-year period beginning in 2003 as well.
In exchange for Janet Fooshee's guilty plea, the prosecution recommended a seven-year prison sentence. She must also pay $415,000 in restitution.
Her husband, Richard Fooshee, 64, an attorney who also resides in Maine, pleaded guilty to second-degree charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and securities fraud, for his part in the scheme. He has applied to the Pre-Trial Intervention program and is expected to be accepted.
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, Janet Fooshee 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.
In March 2009, the New Jersey Bureau of Securities issued orders revoking Fooshee's status as a registered investment adviser and her ability to qualify for exemptions from the registration requirement. As a result, Fooshee was barred from acting as an investment adviser in the state of New Jersey or to New Jersey residents.
Fooshee admitted that after her registration was revoked, she conspired with her husband to continue to act as an investment adviser to several of her pre-existing New Jersey clients through early 2013.
During that time, she admitted that she and her husband earned $191,539 in unlawful adviser fees. This amount is separate from the approximately $17,000 in improper fees described above.
Fooshee's husband, Richard Fooshee, admitted that he conspired with his wife to help her continue to act as an investment adviser by depositing advisory fee checks from her clients into his personal bank accounts and transferring the money to Janet Fooshee or to a joint account owned by both of them.
These clients were unaware that Janet Fooshee's registration had been revoked. Richard Fooshee also admitted that he acted in an investment advisory capacity with respect to Janet Fooshee's New Jersey clients, and that he did so without registering as an investment adviser and without qualifying for an exemption from the registration requirement.
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.
Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@njadvancemedia.com.Follow him on Twitter @DHutch_SL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
