Former Wells Fargo Advisor Gets Three Years for Fraud
A former advisor with Wells Fargo, Raymond James, Steward Partners and UBS will spend three years in prison for a real estate investment scheme that defrauded five clients.
According to Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, Andrew Joseph Egber pleaded guilty on Feb. 20 to separate counts of felony theft, exploitation of a vulnerable adult and one count of securities fraud. According to Brown, Egber “stole money his elderly clients spent a lifetime saving.”
Egber is based in Culver City, Calif., but previously lived in Maryland. According to FINRA records, he joined the industry at Legg Mason Walker in 1989, and spent eight years each at UBS and Wells Fargo before joining Raymond James in 2018. In 2022, he joined Steward Partners, where he worked until FINRA barred him from the industry in April 2024.
Between 2015 and 2019 (mostly spanning his Wells Fargo tenure), Egber deceived elderly clients into withdrawing funds from their retirement investment accounts, claiming he would invest them in a real estate opportunity.
Egber would direct clients to give him the money in the form of personal checks payable to Egber, either directly or toward the purported real estate investment, and he would provide false reasons to the institutions he worked for to justify the withdrawals.
In reality, the real estate investment opportunity didn’t exist; instead, Egber deposited the funds in his own checking account and would use them for his own purposes.
According to FINRA, Wells Fargo filed a Form U5 claiming Egber was “voluntarily terminated” in 2018, but filed an amendment to the U5 in 2024, claiming the firm was “reviewing allegations of possible theft of client funds.”
“Egber left the firm more than eight years ago,” a spokesperson for Wells Fargo told Wealth Management. “We fully cooperated with authorities throughout the investigation and remain committed to protecting our clients from exploitation and fraud.”
After Egber refused to produce information requested by FINRA or appear for on-the-record testimony, the brokerage regulator barred him from the industry. Additionally, Maryland’s Securities Division barred him from the industry in late 2024 for recommending the real estate scheme that wasn’t approved, for falsely stating they paid an annual interest or dividend of between 5% and 10%, and for failing to tell clients the opportunity was “a sham.”
In addition to the 18 months in jail, Egber will be on probation for five years after his release, facing an additional eight years and six months of incarceration if he violates it. The court also ordered Egber to pay $545,831 in restitution.