A plea deal in a former financial advisor’s fraud case fell apart after federal investigators alleged he was attempting to sell a home in Cape Cod and a wine collection valued at $100,000.
The barred former LPL Financial advisor who backed away from the plea agreement is now facing five more counts of fraud and identity theft charges. James K. Couture
Two weeks after he rejected the deal, a new indictment charged him with an additional count of wire fraud, three more counts of aggravated identity theft and a count of investment adviser fraud. Authorities have also issued a restraining order forbidding Couture, 43, from selling two homes, five cars and the fine wines without any agreements in place to ensure the proceeds go towards restitution and forfeiture. A judge approved Couture’s motion after federal prosecutors in Boston wrote that they had no objections to the defense’s pullout from the deal.
“The defendant has now breached his plea agreement and informed the court and the government that he will not waive indictment or plead guilty to the information as previously agreed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kriss Basil wrote in the prosecution’s July 7 filing. “In this case, the government will proceed in the ordinary course as it would have done had the defendant not entered the plea agreement.”
It was not immediately clear what prompted Couture to drop the agreement. He and his lawyer didn’t respond to phone calls and an email seeking comment.
In an email, LPL spokeswoman Lauren Hoyt-Williams said that the company could not discuss the fraud allegations and whether the firm had paid any settlements to victims seeking damages while the investigation is ongoing.
When it fired him, the company cited allegations that Couture “altered identifying information, account balances and distributions in [a] customer account statement,” maintained “commingled” client accounts and used an “unapproved email address,”
“LPL discharged Mr. Couture in 2020,” Hoyt-Williams says. “The firm takes this matter very seriously and has been fully cooperating with both the SEC and law enforcement.”
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“The government believes that the defendant does not have sufficient funds to satisfy the expected restitution, fines and forfeiture that will be ordered, and there is substantial risk that the defendant has dissipated, shielded or attempted to dissipate and shield assets from the government that could be used to partially satisfy the anticipated restitution, fines and forfeiture,” the filing states.
The restraining order and the breakdown of the plea deal lent a unique twist to a case involving allegations that closely resemble other advisor fraud cases.
Between 2009 and 2020, Couture misappropriated his clients’ money through a series of phony investment funds and account statements that showed their accounts gaining value even as he liquidated assets when they requested withdrawals, the July 22 indictment states. Although his practice, The Private Wealth Management Group, had its offices in Worcester and Springfield, he formed a New Hampshire-based company called Legacy Financial Group and sold the clients on fake funds with names like “LFG Taxable” and “LFG PE Fund IV,” investigators say.
The indictment includes forfeiture of $2.87 million that prosecutors say is “derived from proceeds traceable to the offenses,” the document shows. An FBI agent arrested Couture on July 23, court filings show. Authorities released him on bond that day on condition that he surrender any passports and restrict his travel to the continental United States.
